/yapc/yapc.org/Europe/2001/proceedings/18/faq.html

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  4.     <title>Mutagenic modules FAQ</title>
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  16.     <h1 class="main">Mutagenic modules FAQ</h1>
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  19.       Here are a few questions which I've been asked about this talk after I
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  20.       delivered a preliminary version to London.pm.
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  21.       If your question isn't here then either collar me at the conference
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  22.       or send me email.
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  24.       <dl>
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  25.         <dt>What does <i>mutagenic</i> mean?</dt>
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  26.         <dd>My dictionary (the Shorter Oxford) says <i>Causing or capable
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  27.             of causing mutation.</i>  It's appropriate enough to make some
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  28.             kind of sense, as well as sounding suitably scary :-)</dd>
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  30.         <dt>How far have you got with the <code>B::Parse</code> module
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  31.             mentioned at the end of the talk?
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  32.         <dd>I haven't started working on it yet. There are several things
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  33.             that need to be done first: most importantly there is a crippling
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  34.             limitation of compiler backends in general, and B::Deparse in
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  35.             particular, which needs to overcome before it could be made to
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  36.             work properly.
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  38.         <dt>How does all this relate to Perl 6?</dt>
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  39.         <dd>It's impossible to give a definitive answer until we can
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  40.             see the final shape that Perl 6 is going to take. However we can be fairly
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  41.             sure that Perl 6 will be even more flexible than Perl 5, particularly
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  42.             in the way that it's parsed. It should create some exciting new
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  43.             possibilities in this area.
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  45.         <dt>How does it relate to Damian Conway's work on filtering and parsing?
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  46.         <dd>A lot of Dr Conway's work involves taking extraordinary and unlikely-seeming
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  47.             structures, and transforming them into Perl code. His Lingua::Romana::Perligata
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  48.             is a fine example. The projected Parse::Perl module will provide a general
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  49.             mechanism for doing this sort of thing.
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  50.             
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  51.             <p>On one interpretation, that's the <i>opposite</i> of what I'm trying to
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  52.             do. I want to be able to take perfectly ordinary Perl code and make it
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  53.             <i>behave</i> in new and strange ways. Of course there's no reason
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  54.             that you couldn't combine the two, if you were feeling especially evil.</p>
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  56.         <dt>How does it relate to Simon Cozens's <code>B::Generate</code> module?
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  57.         <dd>That's similar to the previous question. B::Generate enables one to write
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  58.         (among other things) compilers which will turn other languages into Perl bytecode.
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  60.         <dt>Have you thought of such-and-such an idea?</dt>
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  61.         <dd>Probably not, but I'd like to hear about it. Send me an email; or accost
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  62.         me at the conference if you're still here, or at a London.pm meeting if you
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  63.         live in London.
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  65.       </dl>
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  66.     </div>
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  67.     
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  68.     <address>Robin Houston / robin@kitsite.com</address>
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