Re: Initial LSB activities
Alan Cox <alan@cymru.net>:
> > I'd like to see Perl, Python, and Tcl all be in the base (even though I
> > no longer use Perl or Tcl myself). These scripting languages are increasingly
> > important for applications; I think a reference system lacking them would
> > be seriously crippled.
>
> The problem we raised with perl is that its API is incredibly unstable,
> and the truth is I dont think even Larry Wall could define the API changes
> between 5.003 5.004 and 5.005
>
> All of them subtley broke my web scripts
OK. This is *not* the case with Python; it's been quite stable across the last
three releases, and the language design and standard modules are sufficiently
clean to justify an expectation that it will remain so.
So can I have Python? It's what I really wanted anyway. :-)
Yes, I understand some people will bitch if we include Python and not Perl.
The right way to handle this is to be up front in the LSB (or its rationale
document) about our reasons. Python is stable enough to be a reliable
interoperability platform; Perl is not. QED.
We can make this more palatable by indicating that, as a future
direction, we'll consider adding Perl 6.0 if the Topaz development or
some other similar project cleans up the Perl code base enough to
create confidence that the API will be sufficiently stable.
--
<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr";>Eric S. Raymond</a>
[President Clinton] boasts about 186,000 people denied firearms under
the Brady Law rules. The Brady Law has been in force for three years. In
that time, they have prosecuted seven people and put three of them in
prison. You know, the President has entertained more felons than that at
fundraising coffees in the White House, for Pete's sake."
-- Charlton Heston, FOX News Sunday, 18 May 1997
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