-- Brian Mathis Direct Edge http://www.directedge.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 15:51:34 -0700 From: Perl Newsletter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Perl Newsletter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Perl.com Newsletter: Turning the Tides on Perl's Attitude Toward Beginners www.perl.com update -------------------------------------- The Email for www.perl.com Subscribers ============================================================ Sponsored by Macromedia, Creators of ColdFusion Problems meeting tight deadlines? ColdFusion 4.5, the leading Web app server, has the solution with an integrated suite of visual tools, powerful server technology, and an open language environment. Download your FREE evaluation copy today at http://www.oreillynet.com/nlr/network/04/allaire/coldfusion ============================================================ Hello, world! I hope you all took full advantage of the long weekend. I certainly did. This is Simon Cozens, managing editor of Perl.com, bringing you the latest goings on from the world of Perl. * Perl at large. The big news this week is that Brian Ingerson has released the latest version of Inline, version 0.40. Inline is an absolutely fantastic module which makes it very, very simple to interface C code with your Perl programs. The name "Inline" comes from the way the code is fed to the Inline module as strings in your Perl program: You say something like use Inline C => "int add(int x, int y) { return x + y; }" and Inline goes away and parses the C code, determines how it should look as a Perl function, creates the magic linkage between C and Perl, compiles it, and caches the compiled copy. The net result is that you now have a new Perl subroutine, 'add', which takes two arguments and adds them together. This release introduces a few interesting new features, the most important is a replacement for ExtUtils::MakeMaker that allows you to easily create Inline modules for distribution to CPAN. It also creates more user-friendly object names: Older versions would create files with an MD5 sum in the name (Foo_C_f6bc0ccd73ffbfb789272809248cfd4d.so and the like), but the new version calls it simply "Foo.so", with an information file that holds all other details Inline needs to know about. Brian's also explained to perl5-porters what he's planning on doing for version 0.50: When Inline::MakeMaker is used by an extension module author, the 'make dist' rule will be overridden to tell Inline to set things up as if it were just a regular XS module. For 'Foo.pm', the generated 'Foo.xs' and friends will be packaged, so it will look like a normal XS-based distribution. Almost... There is still a call to 'use Inline' that must be dealt with. The only thing that needs to result is DynaLoader loading the correct object. This is easily less than 50 lines of code. So we need a little runtime stub of 'Inline.pm' to be loaded. (By the way, Inline can already deterministically tell it is being invoked by a preinstalled module, and in that case it never rebuilds.) So how to distribute the stub to everyone? The answer lies in having the generated 'Makefile.PL' contain an embedded version of the Inline stub that it can install or upgrade. So that means that every Inline-based module like 'Foo.pm' will contain a little piece of Inline to help it get going (if there isn't one installed already). Yet another Perl Conference (http://yapc.org/America) is now only two weeks away, and The O'Reilly Perl Conference (http://conferences.oreilly.com/perl5) is coming soon. Both look to have very exciting schedules, so make sure you're booked to go. If you're at The O'Reilly Perl Conference, I'll see you there. * What's new on Perl.com? Once again, Leon Brocard's produced this week's Perl 5 Porters summary, bringing us the latest news on Artur Bergman's 'iThread' module, the Perl bugs database: http://www.perl.com/pub/2001/05/p5pdigest/THISWEEK-20010527.html Bryan Warnock has done the same job for the Perl 6 mailing lists. This week saw the release of another design document, the Assembly language standard, as well as technical discussion about the format and specifications of the virtual machine (and some surprising news about its suggested name). Discussions on the language front seemed to be quieter than before, with the previous thread on properties being finished off and an interesting question about array slice syntax. Read all this and more at: http://www.perl.com/pub/2001/05/p6pdigest/THISWEEK-20010526.html In last week's newsletter, I reported on Casey West's work with the beginner's mailing list and resources. In this week's feature article, Casey explains why he felt the mailing list was needed, where it's going and how it's being received. He also offers some advice for all of us to help conquer the elitism he feels has saturated the Perl community and live up to Larry's wish: "I want to see people using Perl to glue things together creatively, not just technically but also socially. ... If someone stinks, view it as a reason to help them, not a reason to avoid them." http://www.perl.com/pub/2001/05/29/tides.html Enjoy! SC ============================================================ The 3rd O'Reilly Open Source Convention, July 23-27, 2001 Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina Fueling the Open Source Alternative The Perl Conference 5, XTech2001 Conference on XML (in association with GCA), the 8th Tcl/Tk Conference, the 1st Conference on PHP - 14 tracks keep you informed on the latest innovations - Register by June 22 and Save http://conferences.oreilly.com/oscon/ ============================================================ Turning the Tides on Perl's Attitude Toward Beginners http://www.perl.com/pub/2001/05/29/tides.html?wwwrrr_20010529.txt Casey West is taking a stand against elitism in the Perl community and seems to be making progress. He has launched several new services for the Perl beginner that are being enthusiastically received. Taking Lessons From Traffic Lights http://www.perl.com/pub/2001/05/22/trafficlights.html?wwwrrr_20010529.txt Michael Schwern examines traffic lights and shows what lessons applied to the development of Perl 6. Exegesis 2 http://www.perl.com/pub/2001/05/08/exegesis2.html?wwwrrr_20010529.txt Having trouble visualizing how the approved RFC's for Perl 6 will translate into actual Perl code? Damian Conway provides and exegesis to Larry Wall's Apocalypse 2 and reveals what the code will look like. Off The Wall: Larry Wall: Apocalypse Two http://www.perl.com/pub/2001/05/03/wall.html?wwwrrr_20010529.txt Larry Wall produces the next episode in his series of "Apocalypses": glimpses into the design of Perl 6. This week, he explains how Perl 6 will differ from Perl 5 in terms of chapter 2 of the Camel Book: fundamental data types, variables and the context and scoping of the language. ============================================================ Sponsored by Thawte ** FREE Apache SSL Guide from Thawte ** Planning Web Server Security? Find out how to implement SSL! Get the free Thawte Apache SSL Guide and find the answers to all your Apache SSL security issues and more at: http://www.thawte.com/ucgi/gothawte.cgi?a=n122531080018000 ============================================================ Sister Sites: --------------------------------- O'Reilly Network http://www.oreillynet.com The Source for Open and Emerging Technologies XML.com http://xml.com/ XML from the inside out. ONLamp.com http://onlamp.com O'Reilly Network's High Performance Web Development site O'Reilly and Associates http://www.oreilly.com/ O'Reilly computer books, software and online publishing. -- For information on unsubscribing from this list, please visit http://rochester.pm.org