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If there was a mechanism to,

  • Opt-into Markdown documentation on a per-file basis.
  • Document your code with Markdown instead instead of POD

Assuming these concerns were met,

  • A call to perldoc MyModule rendered the Markdown to text with something like mdcat which supports images, links
  • No browser was required at all (mdcat works without a browser).
  • Support for terminal-rendering of Markdown was a part of core.
  • All of this was done merely by creating a distinction between a code-comment, and a doc-comment as demonstrated in this repo, where
    • A doc comment was marked with a line starting ##
    • Any other use of # continues to carry code-commenting semantics


Would you prefer it and use it?

View Poll

submitted by /u/EvanCarroll
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Perl is growing and adapting to the modern times, just like a new shiny Plug-In Hybrid car. Plug-in hybrid cars have the best of both worlds, an electric motor that has an average range of 20-60 miles and after its range is depleted it goes on the good old reliable gas motor for a few hundred miles.

Perl has many new shiny tech ( think of this as the Electric motor side of the Plug-In Hybrid car ) like Dancer2, Mojolicious , Starman and now COR which is a new OO system that is part of the language ( and many other cool new cpan modules that I might have missed * feel free to share your favorite new cpan module in the comments)

Perl has done a good job at keeping backwards compatibility ( now think of this as the gas engine side of the plugin hybrid car ) where many companies can still reliably run its perl code ( even after upgrading perl and obviously a few tweaks in the codebase here and there )

The Perl community is still active and its cpan modules continue to be maintained. Yes we have experienced a shrinking in the Perl community but the community has maintained a focus on improving the core modules that are shipped in the language and has paid close attention to widely used cpan modules ( read up on cpan river model - https://neilb.org/2015/04/20/river-of-cpan.html )

If you used to write Perl code or your curious about it then this is the best time to give Perl 5.40 a try and play around with some of its new web frameworks, cpan libraries and its new OO system COR.

submitted by /u/Itcharlie
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Those who've been around long enough know that the use of programming languages was almost a religion a few years ago. For example, the .NET community made no secret of being a sect that branded other technologies as the devil's work. Admittedly, the Llama book was also considered a bible.

Until 20 years ago, Perl was regarded as an elite technology that one could boast about even barely mastering. Getting started with Perl was and still is tough and requires motivation. The reward for building Perl skills often comes years later when you calmly realize that even 10-year-old scripts still perform their duties perfectly - despite multiple system environment updates. Generally, even unoptimized Perl programs run more efficiently than new developments with technologies sold to us as the "hot shit."

One of Perl's top application areas is high-performance and robust web applications in mod_perl/2. To my knowledge, there's no comparable flexible programming language that can interact so closely with the web server and intervene in every layer of the delivery process. The language is mature, balanced, and the syntax is always consistent - at least for the Perl interpreter 😉 If you go to the official mod_perl page (perl.apache.org) in 2024, it recommends a manual written over 20 years ago, and even the link no longer works.

As a Perl enthusiast from the get-go and a full-stack developer, I feel today that - albeit reluctantly - I need to consider a technology switch. Currently, I'm still developing with mod_perl/2 and Perl Mason. As long as I'm working on interface projects, I'm always ahead of the game and can deliver everything in record time. However, when it comes to freelance projects or a new job, it's almost hopeless to bring in Perl experience, especially in Europe.

Throughout my career, I've also used other technologies such as Java Struts, PHP, C/C++, Visual Basic .NET, and I'd better not mention COBOL-85. I've always come back to Perl because of its stability. But I'm noticing that the language is effectively dead and hardly receives any updates or is talked about much. If I were forced to make a technology switch for developing full-stack applications, I would switch to React or Django. It's a shame.

submitted by /u/a430
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