On Tue, Aug 08, 2000 at 09:46:04AM -0700, Nathan Wiger wrote:
> The RFC doesn't mention localtime() for just this reason. The idea would
> be localtime would be GONE in Perl 6, instead moved to Time::Local.
> date() would replace it.
Why is this a good idea? Perl programs have been using localtime() for
over a decade. Why do we suddenly want to make them all obsolete? Is
the goal of Perl 6 really to require that every Perl program in creation
be rewritten?
I'm all for adding a new and improved time mechanism with a bit less
of the oddness localtime() carries, but does it really hurt us to leave
the old style in the core?
> $ ./p52p6 mydatescript
> localtime() no longer in core - use date() instead [importing
> Time::Local]
It would be a horrible idea to have every existing Perl program spit
out reams of warnings whenever running under Perl 6.
Let's keep Perl Perl. Clean up the internals, yes. Remove deprecated
features, yes. Add nifty new functionality, yes. Change everything
that looks the slightist bit ugly? Please, no.
I would humbly offer that Perl 6 should run at least 90% of all old
Perl 5 scripts, without translation or compatability modules. If it
doesn't, how can it be called Perl?
- Damien
