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Perl + Python = Parrot 86

chipmunk writes "My prayers have been answered! Larry and Guido have joined forces to produce Parrot, what will surely become the best language ever written. The power of Perl and the sanity of Python. The Py3K and Perl 6 development are merging, with Jeremy Hylton and Dan Sugalski as joint development leads. Read more in the press release on use Perl;, and see a joint interview on perl.com!"

It's about time. It's like the right brain and left brain are working together, at long last. O'Reilly has already inked a deal to publish Programming Parrot, and Yet Another Society is set to merge with the recently launched Python Software Foundation. Both Guido and Larry will be working for ActiveState.

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Perl and Python Merge Development

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  • Or does yelling in it's ear and banging it on the table not wake it up and it's nailed to the perch.

    DanH
    (Happy Apr 1st to you as well.)
    Cav Pilot's Reference Page [cavalrypilot.com]
  • This is so false. Why would two opposing forces join together? That's like saying, Luke Skywaler has now joined the dark side. Come on people now... or even better... Slashdot and Plastic have joined together to become Slashtic!
  • This certainly sounds like an April fool's story. Parrot!?

    Funny thing is, it looks legit...
  • This is another joke, guys. Ala the DALnet story.

    News releases don't come out on Sundays, you know.

  • As a Perl coder, i am looking forward to being forced to indent my Perl code to aviod compliation errors.

    Besides, the semicolon key on my keyboard has been sticky since i made goatse.cx my homepage.

    I hope they merge with C# next, i want to add it to my resume.
  • I really hope this is an April fools joke, because the last thing I want to do is maintain *another* scripting language. Anyways python is just fine.

    (grin)

    -Moondog
  • by digigasm ( 84016 ) on Sunday April 01, 2001 @11:28AM (#322311)
    When's the last time you saw an O'reilly book for $19.95?
    .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._. :*~*:._.:*~*:._.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    ... that broke the camel's back!
  • Obviously, then, Windows has already been using similar technologies for years...
  • Hello, Polly!!! POL-LYYYY!!!! Polly Parrot, wake up! (*thump!*) Now that's what I call a dead parrot!...

    ...Look, this parrot wouldn't "voom" if I put 4,000 volts through it! It has ceased to be! It is a late parrot!

  • Don't involve me in your sick mind games, Pudge. Parrot?!
  • Now this is funny. Well done, Simon Cozens.
  • For those of you who didn't realize, this is an obvious april fools joke, just read the (pseudo) interview [perl.com]. I quote:


    What do you say to the speculation that this move was influenced by your new employers, the ActiveState corporation?

    LW: (laughs) That's pure nonsense. Nonsense, nonsense.

    GvR: I can't imagine what you're talking about. (Fnord.)


    This time, its slashdot that says: YBHT. YHL. HAND.


    You're tired of Slashdot ads? Get junkbuster [junkbusters.com] now!
  • I can't believe it took me until the sample code on the interview page to realize it's an April Fool's joke:

    # copy stdin to stdout, except for lines starting with #
    while left_angle_right_angle:
    if dollar_underscore[0] =eq= "#":
    continue_next;
    }
    print dollar_underscore;
    }

    Though I will say this: The great thing about Parrot is that it slides past the lameness filter like a greased Scotsman.

  • Now you'll have tonnes of replies, debating which language is the dark side.

    I vote Perl, the language of those who enjoying inflicting pain and horror on others. Which is weird, because absolutely I love Perl.
  • If you're going to come up with an April Fool's prank, at least make it a) believable and b) funny.
  • I've been looking for a language with which to petrify Heidi Wall [stonehenge.com]. Now I know that giant Aibo's with scientifically proven magical petrification rays are the preferred method of petrification, but there are a couple of snags.
    First off, scientifically proven magical petrification rays only work on hot young actresses. While Ms. Wall is both hot and young, she has 0 stage or film credits to her name.
    Secondly, Ms. Wall insists that only Perl be used to petrify her. This is out of a (misguided) sense of loyalty to her father and his life work.
    Unfortuanately, Perl's bolted on OOP support is unsuitable for the kind of enterprise-ready, scalable and cross-platform petrification script I have in mind. A perl/python hybrid would be perfect. That way I could get the excellent OOP structure of python while not making Heidi feel like she has betrayed her family.
    This rocks!
    Now all that remains is to test the script out and then get Heidi naked. I'm currently working on a testing harness, and, quite frankly, there's no way that Heidi will be able to resist my charm and manly beauty.
    I should be able to report my results shortly.
    --Shoeboy
  • and my butt smells and I also like to kiss my own butt. I'm just going to post like I don't get it. Is this real? Why can't /. post more articles about aliens? Boy, lots of places are posting weird news today. I believe everything I read on the Internet.

    AFAIK, the only things that have really happened on this day in history was the announcement of a certain endless OSS project [mozilla.org] three years ago, and the resignation of a certain lead [jwz.org] on that project...

    --

  • by Enry ( 630 ) <enry @ w ayga.net> on Sunday April 01, 2001 @11:44AM (#322323) Journal
    As aliens with no legal rights (but advanced technology we can't communicate with) learn sex tips from ESR, DALNet, Perl and Python have announced that AOL has inserted GPL'd code into Windows, causing many to ask "What isn't in the Internet when Slashdot is at war?". Meanwhile, in another part of the galaxy, Star Bridge is using lzip compression to manufacture boots that will let you jump 6 feet in the air, enough to see the movie screen from behind Jon Katz's head.

    That sound about right?
  • by |guillaume| ( 151395 ) on Sunday April 01, 2001 @11:44AM (#322324)
    For those who still haven't got it, just look at this piece of code (in Parrot):

    # copy stdin to stdout, except for lines starting with #
    while left_angle_right_angle:
    if dollar_underscore[0] =eq= "#":
    continue_next;
    }
    print dollar_underscore;
    }

    taken from the interview at http://www.perl.com/pub/2001/04/01/parrot.htm [perl.com]

  • ooh.... Then again...opposites attrack!
  • and his brother luigi.
  • by mrsam ( 12205 ) on Sunday April 01, 2001 @11:48AM (#322327) Homepage
    This is the only thing I can think of that can explain all the crap that was posted today. Yes, we know, it's April 1. We get the point. Haw-haw-haw.

    At least think of something funny to post. Like the Co$ deciding to press on with their lawsuit, for /. posting their sekret scriptures, but willing to drop the case if every registered user agreed to buy a copy of "Battlefield Earth". Or, RMS and ESR announcing a charity boxing match, with the proceeds going to the EFF to pay for 2600's legal bills.

    I don't know, maybe it's the combination of April 1, and daylights savings time going into effect, that makes everything seem so lame. I can't wait for this day to be over.

    ---

  • by zaius ( 147422 ) <jeff@zai u s . d y ndns.org> on Sunday April 01, 2001 @11:54AM (#322328)
    RESEARCH TRIANGLE, N.C (AP)

    Software congolmerate Microsoft and Linux giant RedHat announced today that they will work together to produce Microsoft's next generation operating system, Windows X. Microsoft's chief software architect, William H. Gates III called the partnership an "exciting opportunity to steal, err, expand upon the work of thousands of unpaid open source developers".

    While RedHat was not available for comment, Apple CEO Steve Jobs did remark that "if that f@#$ing bastard steals my ideas one more time, I'll f@#$ing kick his scrawny b@#%&h ass all the way back to Harvard".

  • by mwalker ( 66677 ) on Sunday April 01, 2001 @11:57AM (#322329) Homepage
    Perl and Python to begin joint development

    Well I think that much has been obvious for a while. The question, really, is how much joint development? Are we just talking a blunt every weekend or so, or are these guys dropping a dime bag every day?

    That would at least explain the name of $_

  • I mean, who the heck is "Pudge"? Has anyone seen an article posted by him/her before?

    And would the real Slashdot editors keep up these (insert choice expression here) April 1st stories for this long? Surely even they would be tired of it by now, no? Or are they exacting revenge against the trolls, whiners, and loser story submitters? Is this their way of saying, "See all you Slashdot readers ... us Slashdot editors don't just deal with this crap on April 1st, we deal with this sort of stuff year-round, 365 days a year!"

    Perhaps Rob and crew have finally snapped.
  • I knew larry and guido didn't buy into the knee-jerk antagonism that some folk in their community pursue - but this is quite a big step.

    I'm just writing to say i had one small hint about this - there was news circulating in the winux underground(*) about the *book*, of all things! It was apparently noteworthy because it was expected to be about the same size as all the other nutshell books - combined.

    This is, um, a big day!

    ((*) winux underground - a group of computing heretics and general dabblers seeking merger of the windows and linux operating systems - to get the compactness and elegance of windows internals and the grace and ease-of-use of the linux desktop(s), all in one place.)
  • I AM DANCING--IN FRONT OF YOUR LASER YOUR laser is april 1th. LASER 1: PERL LASER 2: HATRED. LASER 3: PARROT. MY dance is my nonchalance. Together we become LASERDANCE (YOU + ME)
  • Whilst this is a nice joke, a language which melds the best of smalltalk like languages and perl does exist - it is called Ruby [ruby-lang.org]. Ruby is very symetrical, neat and is taking over from perl in Japan.
  • Linux in a Nutshell and Unix in a Nutshell are both $19.95.

    A lot of the pocket references are less than $19.95, and most of the other O'Reilly books are only in the $30-$40 range.

    Here [oreilly.com] is a link to their pricelist.

  • So I'm not the only one around here that reads Exploitation Now.

    Er... Well, y'know. You can't make an omelette without um... destroying a forest. Or something.

  • by Motor ( 104119 )

    If the Slashdot editors really wanted to play April Fool, they should post bullshit stories all day... and give everyone 50 mod points.

    The resulting chaos would definitely be memorable.

  • did you read the code sample? this is ten times better than the fucking boots. although the picture in lzip was kinda funny.
  • by eean ( 177028 ) <<un.eornom> <ta> <todhsals>> on Sunday April 01, 2001 @12:19PM (#322338) Homepage
    If you can put this up, then you certainly need to put up Linus's message [tux.org]. He said he submitted it to slashdot.
  • Yeah, me too. I kept thinking "no way!"
    and then thinking, "but what if?" until
    I got to the sample code above. It really
    is the most hilarious part of the whole prank
    in its understated way ("dollar_underscore"?
    "continue_next"--hilarious but not as funny
    as the ":" "}" pairing, which is inspired).

    The sad thing is, when I get to work (a python
    shop in which I'm a rare Perler) people will
    be mailing this link around in all seriousness.
  • I think it was probably a real interview. Just not about real stuff.
  • by Chas ( 5144 )
    Heheh.


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  • Oh good, I'm not the only one who thought of how much weed they would be smoking... ;)

    -antipop
  • I like the prank last year, when they changed all of the fonts for every article. This one was carried out pretty good, but is a little too much!

  • The mod points would be a nice touch. Make sure to ask everyone to meta-moderate all day as well! Then we can laugh as the more pugnacious moderate each other into oblivion, then get smack-down'd for it by anonymous meta-mods.

    Boss of nothin. Big deal.
    Son, go get daddy's hard plastic eyes.
  • Both are to work for subsiduary of microsoft?
    With worse and worse news coming about for the
    microsoft harassing hell out of a companies,
    why two mega men need to work for Active state?
    They should but for O'Rielly. I would buy more
    books from O'Rielly, if larry continues to produce
    goodness he was until now. =)
  • I would watch your back Shoeboy. Larry may "visit you" with a shotgun in one arm and the Bible in another if you continue pursuing his daughter.
    You two might have to elope.

    It's a joke damnit. Chill.

  • Is it just me, or is isn't it a shame that all of these cool things get announced on the first of April. I mean, some sort of open, universal VM could be really interesting and useful. Java's virtual machine could be used as such, but it'd be nice to have a VM designed with these ideas in mind, and not controlled by any single entity at the altar of capital...
  • APRIL FOOLS

    They got you good.. open source people cooperating and working toghether.. pfft.

    Jeremy

    ;)

  • C# essentials
  • Could we have it be a superset of C++ as well please?
  • I think she goes to my college. At least I've heard the rumor.
  • Excellent hack, particularly the ORA link..

    April fools!

    Your Working Boy,
    - Otis (GAIM: OtisWild)
  • Perl has absolutely NOTHING useful to contribute to Python.

    Reminds me of the old joke (that foretold the fate of Kaleida and Taligent):

    Q: What do you get when you cross Apple and IBM?

    A: IBM.

    -Don

  • Nah. I think in honor of April Fools, the Slashdot editors are just picking submissions at random to post. Or they are looking for rediculous ones. Kind of a waste, if you ask me.
  • ... what the animal on the cover will be?

    can't think of anything appropriate.
  • But this is a Nutshell book!
    -----
  • Never mind, still, Perl in a Nutshell isn't so why should this be?
    -----
  • informative???
    these moderators have just had their credibility smashed over the head with a rotten potato...

  • but boy wouldnt this solve some debates.
    sigh....

  • Besides from this probably being another April's Hack, this has already been done! And its called Ruby [ruby-lang.org]. Ruby takes all the good parts from Perl, Python, Java, and even Smalltalk and combine them in a genuine object oriented language which is suited for both quick hacks and larger projects. Read Thirty-seven reason I Love Ruby [hypermetrics.com] and What's Ruby [ruby-lang.org].
  • I was actually thinking this was a real story until I read the line at perl.com about people deciding to use Ruby. I knew it was a hoax at that point.

  • ... any news delivered on April 1?
  • the problem with april fool pranks like this is it makes more serious similar efforts seem like jokes too.

    we've been working to bring the speed of old skool assembler to java, by removing the wasteful compilation layer, enabling developers to work on fast, pedal-to-the-metal, work out your own offset jumps, while still having object orientation, and run-anywhereness as key. it also incorporates a jini layer for increased ubiquity.

    if anyone is interested, the java-jini-asm effort is hosted at http://jism.sourceforge.net/
  • Not wanting to second-guess the gods here, but they should have called it Dragon or something...because, after all, what is a Dragon but a serpent with a pe(a)rl under his chin? (grin)

    Poisson d'Avril, tout le monde!
  • Hope no more :-)

    The problem is, I wouldn't put it past the scriptmaniacs actually to want Yet Another Scripting Language using a dead parrot syntax like Perl or Python.

    When are we going to start being able to trust the Machine to do the donkey-work and let the programmer do something a little more useful than creating impenetrable code?

    ///Peter

  • "EBCDIC and Baudot support, " in the description of features in the description of the book. That's when I was sure this was an April 1 thing, tho I was strongly suspicious before.

    BUT, in about the authors, it states that Larry Wall worked for Unisys during the period he created Perl. Anyone know if this is true? It would be the first evidence of anything not totally screwed up coming out of that outfit, possibly ever.

    --
  • informative???
    these moderators have just had their credibility smashed over the head with a rotten potato...


    Look, it's not like they expected some kind of Spanish Inquisition.
  • I liked the larger description of the 'Programming Parrot' book. There were some real gems there - Jarrot, ParroTK and the Vaults of Madagascar. I nearly wet my pants laughing so hard.
  • Well, that certainly serves me right for following a blind link!
  • ... in a Nutshell doesn't count. I mean, come on now.
  • Dude, you got sourceforge.net to define a host called jism? Happy April's fool.

    --
  • Jimmy Buffet joke to go with this?

  • Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
  • What makes this even funnier is Bill's a college dropout. Nothing wrong with that though.
  • This deserves to be like +10..I *seriously* almost just shit my pants laughing so hard.
  • Two languages, both alike in dignity, in fair Cambridge where we set our scene...

  • BUT, in about the authors, it states that Larry Wall worked for Unisys during the period he created Perl. Anyone know if this is true? It would be the first evidence of anything not totally screwed up coming out of that outfit, possibly ever.

    And Perl is not totally screwed up?
    (Im not doubting its usefulness, only its sanity)

    ------
    C'mon, flame me!

  • Yes, I keep reading about Ruby taking over from Perl "in Japan", and Ruby taking over from Python "in Japan", so what? Remember, Spinal Tap [mgm.com] was big "in Japan". What makes the Japanese better arbiters of programming languages than anyone else? I certainly don't see heaps of mind-blowing software coming out of Japan (except perhaps for Metal Gear Solid 2, but that's another story...)
  • Here are some gems. For the rest, check it out [tux.org]! I was literally in tears from laughing so hard...

    *BSD users (and
    developers) are all complete jackasses, so you'll fit right in.

    I know, I have a bit of a gut, but compared to Maddog, Nick Petreley or ESR, I'm a modern Adonis.

    Virtually all users of Linux (and all other
    forms of Un*x) are unkempt, longhaired, beast-bearded dirty GNU hippies, and I am sick and tired of having to deal with them.

    The person I have the greatest problem with is that (in)famous communist RMS. Now, RMS may have been responsible for GNU, the GPL, GCC and many other contributions to the computing community, but his stance, as well as stench, displayed in his essays and actions, nauseates me. I mean, with that filth-ridden beard of his, where does he have room to demand that people refer to Linux as GNU / Linux? When he is as clean-shaven as I, he may claim that right, but until then, he should go back to playing his little flute and dropping acid like there's no tomorrow. Honestly, if he doesn't shut his mouth and go back to reading Marx, I'm going to shut it for him. I am sorry to sound so harsh, but a little hygiene every once in a while is a Good Thing(TM). Makes me wish I'd gone with a closed source license back in the day.

    Next in line of dirty scuzz-balls I have to deal with, and probably the worst thorn in my side, is Alan Cox, the primary coder of my kernel's TCP/IP
    stack (ha, what a joke!) and all around dirty GNU hippy. Alan views toothpaste the same way a vampire views garlic. The man's wife (who I spent
    a few years with at the University of Helsinki) often calls me crying in the middle of the night to complain of the rank, unbearable stench the man exudes after sex. On several occasions at trade shows, exhibitions and beer bashes, I have nearly fainted from the torrent of rotten odor that pours from every inch of his toxic person.


    --
  • On Sun, Apr 01, 2001 at 12:05:32AM -0800, Linus Torvalds wrote:
    > X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
    > X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0)
    > X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6700


    Riiiight. Funny it most certainly was, but Linus it most certainly wasn't.

    Also, Linus doesn't sign off with "--Linus Torvalds".

    --
  • I looked at the perl, python and the O'reilly websites, but i'm still little bit skeptical. The announcement was after all made on 1.4.

    So tell me is this an April Fools Joke or not ???

    --
  • >informative???
    >these moderators have just had their credibility smashed over the head with a rotten potato...


    Poor guy. The only time he's ever managed to be modded above a 1 [slashdot.org] was when he asked to be modded down. :-)
  • glad i could be of assistance.

    now clean that shit up.

  • Dude that probably is why it was him. Remember it's an April Fools joke.
  • can we have more fukboox sent over to perlmonks.org pleez? thanks Albannach
  • pleeze we must hav more fukboox sent to perlmonks.org thanks Albannach
  • jdfox, you have way too much time on your hands :)
    but please, in future, keep tabs on my mod points :p

  • Who modded this up as INFORMATIVE?!?
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

Variables don't; constants aren't.

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