In 2020, I announced we’d begin work on Perl 7, the new phase of the Perl programming language. Some liked it; some didn’t. Arguments ensued, people quit, friendships crumbled, new governance emerged, and the project was shelved. In this talk, I cover what happened - maybe with a joke or two.
Instead of rehashing arguments and ranting, I want to dig, honestly and sincerely, into the intentions behind Perl 7, how I tried to make it work, the mistakes I’ve made, and the responsibility I think many of us share for this disaster. I’ll share my uninformed opinion of Perl’s future and the challenges the language will have to deal with.
