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diff --git a/Master/tlpkg/tlperl/lib/pods/perlfaq1.pod b/Master/tlpkg/tlperl/lib/pods/perlfaq1.pod
index ba70a822602..a02fae6a707 100644
--- a/Master/tlpkg/tlperl/lib/pods/perlfaq1.pod
+++ b/Master/tlpkg/tlperl/lib/pods/perlfaq1.pod
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
perlfaq1 - General Questions About Perl
-=head1 DESCRIPTION
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
This section of the FAQ answers very general, high-level questions
about Perl.
@@ -10,37 +10,35 @@ about Perl.
=head2 What is Perl?
Perl is a high-level programming language with an eclectic heritage
-written by Larry Wall and a cast of thousands. It derives from the
-ubiquitous C programming language and to a lesser extent from sed,
-awk, the Unix shell, and at least a dozen other tools and languages.
+written by Larry Wall and a cast of thousands.
+
Perl's process, file, and text manipulation facilities make it
particularly well-suited for tasks involving quick prototyping, system
utilities, software tools, system management tasks, database access,
-graphical programming, networking, and world wide web programming.
-These strengths make it especially popular with system administrators
-and CGI script authors, but mathematicians, geneticists, journalists,
-and even managers also use Perl. Maybe you should, too.
+graphical programming, networking, and web programming.
+
+Perl derives from the ubiquitous C programming language and to a
+lesser extent from sed, awk, the Unix shell, and many other tools
+and languages.
+
+These strengths make it especially popular with web developers
+and system administrators. Mathematicians, geneticists, journalists,
+managers and many other people also use Perl.
=head2 Who supports Perl? Who develops it? Why is it free?
The original culture of the pre-populist Internet and the deeply-held
beliefs of Perl's author, Larry Wall, gave rise to the free and open
-distribution policy of perl. Perl is supported by its users. The
+distribution policy of Perl. Perl is supported by its users. The
core, the standard Perl library, the optional modules, and the
-documentation you're reading now were all written by volunteers. See
-the personal note at the end of the README file in the perl source
-distribution for more details. See L<perlhist> (new as of 5.005)
-for Perl's milestone releases.
+documentation you're reading now were all written by volunteers.
-In particular, the core development team (known as the Perl Porters)
-are a rag-tag band of highly altruistic individuals committed to
+The core development team (known as the Perl Porters)
+are a group of highly altruistic individuals committed to
producing better software for free than you could hope to purchase for
-money. You may snoop on pending developments via the archives at
-http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/
-and http://archive.develooper.com/perl5-porters@perl.org/
-or the news gateway nntp://nntp.perl.org/perl.perl5.porters or
-its web interface at http://nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters ,
-or read the faq at http://dev.perl.org/perl5/docs/p5p-faq.html ,
+money. You may snoop on pending developments via the
+L<archives|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/>
+or read the L<faq|http://dev.perl.org/perl5/docs/p5p-faq.html>,
or you can subscribe to the mailing list by sending
perl5-porters-subscribe@perl.org a subscription request
(an empty message with no subject is fine).
@@ -52,7 +50,7 @@ than GNU software's tend to be.
You can get commercial support of Perl if you wish, although for most
users the informal support will more than suffice. See the answer to
-"Where can I buy a commercial version of perl?" for more information.
+"Where can I buy a commercial version of Perl?" for more information.
=head2 Which version of Perl should I use?
@@ -86,7 +84,7 @@ so you'll have an easier time finding help for those.
Versions prior to perl5.004 had serious security problems with buffer
overflows, and in some cases have CERT advisories (for instance,
-http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1997-17.html ).
+L<http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1997-17.html> ).
=item *
@@ -107,11 +105,9 @@ as its whitewashed bones have fractured or eroded.
=item *
-There is no Perl 6 release scheduled, but it will be available when
-it's ready. The joke is that it's scheduled for Christmas, but that we
-just don't know which one. Stay tuned, but don't worry that you'll
-have to change major versions of Perl; no one is going to take Perl 5
-away from you.
+The current leading implementation of Perl 6, Rakudo, released a "useful,
+usable, 'early adopter'" distribution of Perl 6 (called Rakudo Star) in July of
+2010. Please see L<http://rakudo.org/> for more information.
=item *
@@ -124,65 +120,46 @@ minor release (i.e. perl5.9.x, where 9 is the minor release).
=back
-
=head2 What are Perl 4, Perl 5, or Perl 6?
-(contributed by brian d foy)
-
-In short, Perl 4 is the past, Perl 5 is the present, and Perl 6 is the
-future.
+In short, Perl 4 is the parent to both Perl 5 and Perl 6. Perl 5 is the older
+sibling, and though they are different languages, someone who knows one will
+spot many similarities in the other.
The number after Perl (i.e. the 5 after Perl 5) is the major release
of the perl interpreter as well as the version of the language. Each
major version has significant differences that earlier versions cannot
support.
-The current major release of Perl is Perl 5, and was first released in
+The current major release of Perl is Perl 5, first released in
1994. It can run scripts from the previous major release, Perl 4
-(March 1991), but has significant differences. It introduced the
-concept of references, complex data structures, and modules. The Perl
-5 interpreter was a complete re-write of the previous perl sources.
-
-Perl 6 is the next major version of Perl, although it's not intended to
-replace Perl 5. It's still in development in both its syntax and
-design. The work started in 2002 and is still ongoing. Some of the
-most interesting features have shown up in the latest versions of Perl
-5, and some Perl 5 modules allow you to use some Perl 6 syntax in your
-programs. The current leading implementation of Perl 6 is Rakudo (
-http://rakudo.org ).
+(March 1991), but has significant differences.
-See L<perlhist> for a history of Perl revisions.
-
-=head2 What was Ponie?
-
-(contributed by brian d foy)
-
-Ponie stands for "Perl On the New Internal Engine", started by Arthur
-Bergman from Fotango in 2003, and subsequently run as a project of The
-Perl Foundation. It was abandoned in 2006
-( http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.ponie.dev/487 ).
+Perl 6 is a reinvention of Perl, it is a language in the same lineage but
+not compatible. The two are complementary, not mutually exclusive. Perl 6 is
+not meant to replace Perl 5, and vice versa. See L</"What is Perl 6?"> below
+to find out more.
-Instead of using the current Perl internals, Ponie aimed to create a
-new one that would provide a translation path from Perl 5 to Perl 6
-(or anything else that targets Parrot, actually). You would have been
-able to just keep using Perl 5 with Parrot, the virtual machine which
-will compile and run Perl 6 bytecode.
+See L<perlhist> for a history of Perl revisions.
=head2 What is Perl 6?
-At The Second O'Reilly Open Source Software Convention, Larry Wall
-announced Perl 6 development would begin in earnest. Perl 6 was an oft
-used term for Chip Salzenberg's project to rewrite Perl in C++ named
-Topaz. However, Topaz provided valuable insights to the next version
-of Perl and its implementation, but was ultimately abandoned.
+Perl 6 was I<originally> described as the community's rewrite of Perl 5.
+Development started in 2002; syntax and design work continue to this day.
+As the language has evolved, it has become clear that it is a separate
+language, incompatible with Perl 5 but in the same language family.
+
+Contrary to popular belief, Perl 6 and Perl 5 peacefully coexist with one
+another. Perl 6 has proven to be a fascinating source of ideas for those
+using Perl 5 (the L<Moose> object system is a well-known example). There is
+overlap in the communities, and this overlap fosters the tradition of sharing
+and borrowing that have been instrumental to Perl's success. The current
+leading implementation of Perl 6 is Rakudo, and you can learn more about
+it at L<http://rakudo.org>.
If you want to learn more about Perl 6, or have a desire to help in
the crusade to make Perl a better place then read the Perl 6 developers
-page at http://dev.perl.org/perl6/ and get involved.
-
-Perl 6 is not scheduled for release yet, and Perl 5 will still be supported
-for quite awhile after its release. Do not wait for Perl 6 to do whatever
-you need to do.
+page at L<http://www.perl6.org/> and get involved.
"We're really serious about reinventing everything that needs reinventing."
--Larry Wall
@@ -191,18 +168,15 @@ you need to do.
Production releases, which incorporate bug fixes and new functionality,
are widely tested before release. Since the 5.000 release, we have
-averaged only about one production release per year.
+averaged about one production release per year.
-Larry and the Perl development team occasionally make changes to the
+The Perl development team occasionally make changes to the
internal core of the language, but all possible efforts are made toward
-backward compatibility. While not quite all Perl 4 scripts run flawlessly
-under Perl 5, an update to perl should nearly never invalidate a program
-written for an earlier version of perl (barring accidental bug fixes
-and the rare new keyword).
+backward compatibility.
=head2 Is Perl difficult to learn?
-No, Perl is easy to start learning--and easy to keep learning. It looks
+No, Perl is easy to start L<learning|http://learn.perl.org/> --and easy to keep learning. It looks
like most programming languages you're likely to have experience
with, so if you've ever written a C program, an awk script, a shell
script, or even a BASIC program, you're already partway there.
@@ -224,26 +198,30 @@ of programming experience, an understanding of regular expressions, and
the ability to understand other people's code. If there's something you
need to do, then it's probably already been done, and a working example is
usually available for free. Don't forget Perl modules, either.
-They're discussed in Part 3 of this FAQ, along with CPAN, which is
+They're discussed in Part 3 of this FAQ, along with L<CPAN|http://www.cpan.org/>, which is
discussed in Part 2.
=head2 How does Perl compare with other languages like Java, Python, REXX, Scheme, or Tcl?
-Favorably in some areas, unfavorably in others. Precisely which areas
-are good and bad is often a personal choice, so asking this question
-on Usenet runs a strong risk of starting an unproductive Holy War.
+Perl can be used for almost any coding problem, even ones which require
+integrating specialist C code for extra speed. As with any tool it can
+be used well or badly. Perl has many strengths, and a few weaknesses,
+precisely which areas are good and bad is often a personal choice.
-Probably the best thing to do is try to write equivalent code to do a
-set of tasks. These languages have their own newsgroups in which you
-can learn about (but hopefully not argue about) them.
+When choosing a language you should also be influenced by the
+L<resources|http://www.cpan.org/>, L<testing culture|http://www.cpantesters.org/>
+and L<community|http://www.perl.org/community.html> which surrounds it.
-Some comparison documents can be found at http://www.perl.com/doc/FMTEYEWTK/versus/
-if you really can't stop yourself.
+For comparisons to a specific language it is often best to create
+a small project in both languages and compare the results, make sure
+to use all the L<resources|http://www.cpan.org/> of each language,
+as a language is far more than just it's syntax.
=head2 Can I do [task] in Perl?
Perl is flexible and extensible enough for you to use on virtually any
task, from one-line file-processing tasks to large, elaborate systems.
+
For many people, Perl serves as a great replacement for shell scripting.
For others, it serves as a convenient, high-level replacement for most of
what they'd program in low-level languages like C or C++. It's ultimately
@@ -265,69 +243,23 @@ languages that come to mind include prolog and matlab.
=head2 When shouldn't I program in Perl?
-When your manager forbids it--but do consider replacing them :-).
-
-Actually, one good reason is when you already have an existing
+One good reason is when you already have an existing
application written in another language that's all done (and done
well), or you have an application language specifically designed for a
certain task (e.g. prolog, make).
-For various reasons, Perl is probably not well-suited for real-time
-embedded systems, low-level operating systems development work like
-device drivers or context-switching code, complex multi-threaded
-shared-memory applications, or extremely large applications. You'll
-notice that perl is not itself written in Perl.
-
-Perl remains fundamentally a dynamically typed language, not
-a statically typed one. You certainly won't be chastised if you don't
-trust nuclear-plant or brain-surgery monitoring code to it. And Larry
-will sleep easier, too--Wall Street programs not withstanding. :-)
+If you find that you need to speed up a specific part of a Perl
+application (not something you often need) you may want to use C,
+but you can access this from your Perl code with L<perlxs>.
=head2 What's the difference between "perl" and "Perl"?
-One bit. Oh, you weren't talking ASCII? :-) Larry now uses "Perl" to
-signify the language proper and "perl" the implementation of it, i.e.
-the current interpreter. Hence Tom's quip that "Nothing but perl can
-parse Perl."
-
-Before the first edition of I<Programming perl>, people commonly
-referred to the language as "perl", and its name appeared that way in
-the title because it referred to the interpreter. In the book, Randal
-Schwartz capitalised the language's name to make it stand out better
-when typeset. This convention was adopted by the community, and the
-second edition became I<Programming Perl>, using the capitalized
-version of the name to refer to the language.
-
-You may or may not choose to follow this usage. For example,
-parallelism means "awk and perl" and "Python and Perl" look good, while
-"awk and Perl" and "Python and perl" do not. But never write "PERL",
-because perl is not an acronym, apocryphal folklore and post-facto
-expansions notwithstanding.
-
-=head2 Is it a Perl program or a Perl script?
-
-Larry doesn't really care. He says (half in jest) that "a script is
-what you give the actors. A program is what you give the audience."
-
-Originally, a script was a canned sequence of normally interactive
-commands--that is, a chat script. Something like a UUCP or PPP chat
-script or an expect script fits the bill nicely, as do configuration
-scripts run by a program at its start up, such F<.cshrc> or F<.ircrc>,
-for example. Chat scripts were just drivers for existing programs,
-not stand-alone programs in their own right.
-
-A computer scientist will correctly explain that all programs are
-interpreted and that the only question is at what level. But if you
-ask this question of someone who isn't a computer scientist, they might
-tell you that a I<program> has been compiled to physical machine code
-once and can then be run multiple times, whereas a I<script> must be
-translated by a program each time it's used.
-
-Now that "script" and "scripting" are terms that have been seized by
-unscrupulous or unknowing marketeers for their own nefarious purposes,
-they have begun to take on strange and often pejorative meanings,
-like "non serious" or "not real programming". Consequently, some Perl
-programmers prefer to avoid them altogether.
+"Perl" is the name of the language. Only the "P" is capitalized.
+The name of the interpreter (the program which runs the Perl script)
+is "perl" with a lowercase "p".
+
+You may or may not choose to follow this usage. But never write "PERL",
+because perl is not an acronym.
=head2 What is a JAPH?
@@ -338,27 +270,14 @@ to sign email and usenet messages starting in the late 1980s. He
previously used the phrase with many subjects ("Just another x hacker,"),
so to distinguish his JAPH, he started to write them as Perl programs:
- print "Just another Perl hacker,";
+ print "Just another Perl hacker,";
Other people picked up on this and started to write clever or obfuscated
programs to produce the same output, spinning things quickly out of
control while still providing hours of amusement for their creators and
readers.
-CPAN has several JAPH programs at http://www.cpan.org/misc/japh .
-
-=head2 Where can I get a list of Larry Wall witticisms?
-
-(contributed by brian d foy)
-
-Google "larry wall quotes"! You might even try the "I feel lucky" button.
-:)
-
-Wikiquote has the witticisms from Larry along with their source,
-including his usenet postings and source code comments.
-
-If you want a plain text file, try
-http://www.cpan.org/misc/lwall-quotes.txt.gz .
+CPAN has several JAPH programs at L<http://www.cpan.org/misc/japh>.
=head2 How can I convince others to use Perl?
@@ -378,8 +297,8 @@ choice and how Perl might satisfy that requirement.
You don't have to worry about finding or paying for Perl; it's freely
available and several popular operating systems come with Perl. Community
-support in places such as Perlmonks ( http://www.perlmonks.com )
-and the various Perl mailing lists ( http://lists.perl.org ) means that
+support in places such as Perlmonks ( L<http://www.perlmonks.com> )
+and the various Perl mailing lists ( L<http://lists.perl.org> ) means that
you can usually get quick answers to your problems.
Finally, keep in mind that Perl might not be the right tool for every
@@ -392,9 +311,9 @@ You might find these links useful:
=over 4
-=item * http://perltraining.com.au/whyperl.html
+=item * L<http://www.perl.org/about.html>
-=item * http://www.perl.org/advocacy/whyperl.html
+=item * L<http://perltraining.com.au/whyperl.html>
=back