Perl 6 for Mere Mortals

Perl 6 isn't as complex as people make it out to be. I have friends who are race car enthusiasts who could go in to excruciating detail about cars and if you don't know how to drive, it could seem daunting. The reality is that most of us get in to our car and just drive. That's part of the issue with Perl 6: its proponents get very excited about it and write about all the really cool stuff you can do with it, but for those who don't know the language, it sounds intimidating. Here's a talk I gave at FOSDEM explaining how day-to-day Perl 6 is fairly straightforward and easier than people think: link to this video

The typing and grammar mechanism aren't common, it may influence other languages. Also, Perl managed to survive even without mainstream relevance so the community will probably keep enjoying it. ps: I found this talk pretty convincing about pragmatism link to this video also: link

> lang X doesn't handle basic math correctly among other things. From a recent talk1, what are x, y, z in the following? x = 7 ÷ 2; y = -7 ÷ 2; z = .1 + .2 - .3 x y z 3.5 -3.5 0 # human 3 ? tiny number # c89; ? depends on compiler 3 -4 tiny number # ruby 3 -4 tiny number # python 2/3 3 -3 0 # bc 3.5 -3.5 tiny number # perl5 3.5 -3.5 0 # perl6 ---- It isn't just basic math. How "long" is the following string? ปฏิบัติจริง 7 characters # human len("ปฏิบัติจริง") = 33 # python 2 len("ปฏิบัติจริง") = 11 # python 3 "ปฏิบัติจริง".length = ? # ruby (For Ruby, I've found "the core language does not provide a way to count human perceived characters". 3 Is that still correct or out of date?)…