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-rw-r--r--perl6.html.markdown2070
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diff --git a/perl6.html.markdown b/perl6.html.markdown
index 04f9c6e3..1304869b 100644
--- a/perl6.html.markdown
+++ b/perl6.html.markdown
@@ -13,24 +13,28 @@ least the next hundred years.
The primary Perl 6 compiler is called [Rakudo](http://rakudo.org), which runs on
the JVM and [the MoarVM](http://moarvm.com).
-Meta-note : double pound signs (##) are used to indicate paragraphs, while
-single pound signs (#) indicate notes.
+Meta-note: double pound signs (`##`) are used to indicate paragraphs,
+while single pound signs (`#`) indicate notes.
`#=>` represents the output of a command.
```perl6
-# Single line comment start with a pound
+# Single line comments start with a pound sign.
-#`(
- Multiline comments use #` and a quoting construct.
+#`( Multiline comments use #` and a quoting construct.
(), [], {}, 「」, etc, will work.
)
+
+# Use the same syntax for multiline comments to embed comments.
+for #`(each element in) @array {
+ put #`(or print element) $_ #`(with newline);
+}
```
## Variables
```perl6
-## In Perl 6, you declare a lexical variable using `my`
+## In Perl 6, you declare a lexical variable using the `my` keyword:
my $variable;
## Perl 6 has 3 basic types of variables: scalars, arrays, and hashes.
```
@@ -38,79 +42,81 @@ my $variable;
### Scalars
```perl6
-# Scalars represent a single value. They start with a `$`
-
+# Scalars represent a single value. They start with the `$` sigil:
my $str = 'String';
-# double quotes allow for interpolation (which we'll see later):
+
+# Double quotes allow for interpolation (which we'll see later):
my $str2 = "String";
## Variable names can contain but not end with simple quotes and dashes,
-## and can contain (and end with) underscores :
-my $weird'variable-name_ = 5; # works !
+## and can contain (and end with) underscores:
+my $person's-belongings = 'towel'; # this works!
-my $bool = True; # `True` and `False` are Perl 6's boolean values.
-my $inverse = !$bool; # You can invert a bool with the prefix `!` operator
-my $forced-bool = so $str; # And you can use the prefix `so` operator
- # which turns its operand into a Bool
+my $bool = True; # `True` and `False` are Perl 6's boolean values.
+my $inverse = !$bool; # Invert a bool with the prefix `!` operator.
+my $forced-bool = so $str; # And you can use the prefix `so` operator
+$forced-bool = ?$str; # to turn its operand into a Bool. Or use `?`.
```
### Arrays and Lists
```perl6
-## Arrays represent multiple values. Their name start with `@`.
-## Lists are similar but are an immutable type.
+## Arrays represent multiple values. An array variable starts with the `@`
+## sigil. Unlike lists, from which arrays inherit, arrays are mutable.
my @array = 'a', 'b', 'c';
-# equivalent to :
+# equivalent to:
my @letters = <a b c>; # array of words, delimited by space.
# Similar to perl5's qw, or Ruby's %w.
-my @array = 1, 2, 3;
+@array = 1, 2, 3;
-say @array[2]; # Array indices start at 0 -- This is the third element
+say @array[2]; # Array indices start at 0. Here the third element
+ # is being accessed.
-say "Interpolate all elements of an array using [] : @array[]";
-#=> Interpolate all elements of an array using [] : 1 2 3
+say "Interpolate an array using []: @array[]";
+#=> Interpolate an array using []: 1 2 3
-@array[0] = -1; # Assign a new value to an array index
-@array[0, 1] = 5, 6; # Assign multiple values
+@array[0] = -1; # Assigning a new value to an array index
+@array[0, 1] = 5, 6; # Assigning multiple values
my @keys = 0, 2;
@array[@keys] = @letters; # Assignment using an array containing index values
-say @array; #=> a 6 b
+say @array; #=> a 6 b
```
### Hashes, or key-value Pairs.
```perl6
-## Hashes are pairs of keys and values.
-## You can construct a Pair object using the syntax `Key => Value`.
-## Hash tables are very fast for lookup, and are stored unordered.
-## Keep in mind that keys get "flattened" in hash context, and any duplicated
-## keys are deduplicated.
-my %hash = 1 => 2,
- 3 => 4;
-my %hash = foo => "bar", # keys get auto-quoted
- "some other" => "value", # trailing commas are okay
- ;
+## Hashes are pairs of keys and values. You can construct a `Pair` object
+## using the syntax `Key => Value`. Hash tables are very fast for lookup,
+## and are stored unordered. Keep in mind that keys get "flattened" in hash
+## context, and any duplicated keys are deduplicated.
+my %hash = 'a' => 1, 'b' => 2;
+
+%hash = a => 1, # keys get auto-quoted when => (fat comma) is used.
+ b => 2, # Trailing commas are okay.
+;
## Even though hashes are internally stored differently than arrays,
## Perl 6 allows you to easily create a hash from an even numbered array:
-my %hash = <key1 value1 key2 value2>;
-
-my %hash = key1 => 'value1', key2 => 'value2'; # same result as above
-
-## You can also use the "colon pair" syntax:
-## (especially handy for named parameters that you'll see later)
-my %hash = :w(1), # equivalent to `w => 1`
- # this is useful for the `True` shortcut:
- :truey, # equivalent to `:truey(True)`, or `truey => True`
- # and for the `False` one:
- :!falsey, # equivalent to `:falsey(False)`, or `falsey => False`
- ;
-
-say %hash{'key1'}; # You can use {} to get the value from a key
-say %hash<key2>; # If it's a string, you can actually use <>
- # (`{key1}` doesn't work, as Perl6 doesn't have barewords)
+%hash = <key1 value1 key2 value2>; # Or:
+%hash = "key1", "value1", "key2", "value2";
+
+%hash = key1 => 'value1', key2 => 'value2'; # same result as above
+
+## You can also use the "colon pair" syntax. This syntax is especially
+## handy for named parameters that you'll see later.
+%hash = :w(1), # equivalent to `w => 1`
+ :truey, # equivalent to `:truey(True)` or `truey => True`
+ :!falsey, # equivalent to `:falsey(False)` or `falsey => False`
+;
+## The :truey and :!falsey constructs are known as the
+## `True` and `False` shortcuts respectively.
+
+say %hash{'key1'}; # You can use {} to get the value from a key.
+say %hash<key2>; # If it's a string without spaces, you can actually use
+ # <> (quote-words operator). `{key1}` doesn't work,
+ # as Perl6 doesn't have barewords.
```
## Subs
@@ -120,112 +126,112 @@ say %hash<key2>; # If it's a string, you can actually use <>
## created with the `sub` keyword.
sub say-hello { say "Hello, world" }
-## You can provide (typed) arguments.
-## If specified, the type will be checked at compile-time if possible,
-## otherwise at runtime.
-sub say-hello-to(Str $name) {
+## You can provide (typed) arguments. If specified, the type will be checked
+## at compile-time if possible, otherwise at runtime.
+sub say-hello-to( Str $name ) {
say "Hello, $name !";
}
-## A sub returns the last value of the block.
-sub return-value {
- 5;
-}
-say return-value; # prints 5
-sub return-empty {
-}
-say return-empty; # prints Nil
+## A sub returns the last value of the block. Similarly, the semicolon in
+## the last can be omitted.
+sub return-value { 5 }
+say return-value; # prints 5
-## Some control flow structures produce a value, like if:
+sub return-empty { }
+say return-empty; # prints Nil
+
+## Some control flow structures produce a value, like `if`:
sub return-if {
- if True {
- "Truthy";
- }
+ if True { "Truthy" }
}
-say return-if; # prints Truthy
+say return-if; # prints Truthy
-## Some don't, like for:
+## Some don't, like `for`:
sub return-for {
- for 1, 2, 3 { }
+ for 1, 2, 3 { 'Hi' }
}
-say return-for; # prints Nil
+say return-for; # prints Nil
-## A sub can have optional arguments:
-sub with-optional($arg?) { # the "?" marks the argument optional
- say "I might return `(Any)` (Perl's 'null'-like value) if I don't have
- an argument passed, or I'll return my argument";
+## Positional arguments are required by default. To make them optional, use
+## the `?` after the parameters' names.
+sub with-optional( $arg? ) {
+ # This sub returns `(Any)` (Perl's null-like value) if
+ # no argument is passed. Otherwise, it returns its argument.
$arg;
}
-with-optional; # returns Any
-with-optional(); # returns Any
-with-optional(1); # returns 1
+with-optional; # returns Any
+with-optional(); # returns Any
+with-optional(1); # returns 1
-## You can also give them a default value when they're not passed:
-sub hello-to($name = "World") {
- say "Hello, $name !";
+## You can also give them a default value when they're not passed.
+## Required parameters must come before optional ones.
+sub greeting( $name, $type = "Hello" ) {
+ say "$type, $name!";
}
-hello-to; #=> Hello, World !
-hello-to(); #=> Hello, World !
-hello-to('You'); #=> Hello, You !
+
+greeting("Althea"); #=> Hello, Althea!
+greeting("Arthur", "Good morning"); #=> Good morning, Arthur!
## You can also, by using a syntax akin to the one of hashes
-## (yay unified syntax !), pass *named* arguments to a `sub`.
-## They're optional, and will default to "Any".
-sub with-named($normal-arg, :$named) {
- say $normal-arg + $named;
+## (yay unified syntax !), pass *named* arguments to a `sub`. They're
+## optional, and will default to "Any".
+sub with-named( $normal-arg, :$named ) {
+ say $normal-arg + $named;
}
with-named(1, named => 6); #=> 7
-## There's one gotcha to be aware of, here:
-## If you quote your key, Perl 6 won't be able to see it at compile time,
-## and you'll have a single Pair object as a positional parameter,
-## which means this fails:
-with-named(1, 'named' => 6);
-with-named(2, :named(5)); #=> 7
+## There's one gotcha to be aware of, here: If you quote your key, Perl 6
+## won't be able to see it at compile time, and you'll have a single `Pair`
+## object as a positional parameter, which means
+## `with-named(1, 'named' => 6);` fails.
+
+with-named(2, :named(5)); #=> 7
-## To make a named argument mandatory, you can use `?`'s inverse, `!`
-sub with-mandatory-named(:$str!) {
- say "$str !";
+## To make a named argument mandatory, you can append `!` to the parameter,
+## which is the inverse of `?`:
+sub with-mandatory-named( :$str! ) {
+ say "$str!";
}
-with-mandatory-named(str => "My String"); #=> My String !
-with-mandatory-named; # run time error: "Required named parameter not passed"
-with-mandatory-named(3);# run time error:"Too many positional parameters passed"
+with-mandatory-named(str => "My String"); #=> My String!
+with-mandatory-named; # runtime error:"Required named parameter not passed"
+with-mandatory-named(3);# runtime error:"Too many positional parameters passed"
-## If a sub takes a named boolean argument ...
-sub takes-a-bool($name, :$bool) {
- say "$name takes $bool";
+## If a sub takes a named boolean argument...
+sub takes-a-bool( $name, :$bool ) {
+ say "$name takes $bool";
}
## ... you can use the same "short boolean" hash syntax:
-takes-a-bool('config', :bool); # config takes True
-takes-a-bool('config', :!bool); # config takes False
+takes-a-bool('config', :bool); #=> config takes True
+takes-a-bool('config', :!bool); #=> config takes False
-## You can also provide your named arguments with defaults:
-sub named-def(:$def = 5) {
- say $def;
+## You can also provide your named arguments with default values:
+sub named-def( :$def = 5 ) {
+ say $def;
}
-named-def; #=> 5
+named-def; #=> 5
named-def(def => 15); #=> 15
## Since you can omit parenthesis to call a function with no arguments,
-## you need "&" in the name to store `say-hello` in a variable.
+## you need `&` in the name to store `say-hello` in a variable. This means
+## `&say-hello` is a code object and not a subroutine call.
my &s = &say-hello;
-my &other-s = sub { say "Anonymous function !" }
+my &other-s = sub { say "Anonymous function!" }
-## A sub can have a "slurpy" parameter, or "doesn't-matter-how-many"
-sub as-many($head, *@rest) { #`*@` (slurpy) will "take everything else"
-## Note: you can have parameters *before* a slurpy one (like here),
-## but not *after*.
- say @rest.join(' / ') ~ " !";
+## A sub can have a "slurpy" parameter, or "doesn't-matter-how-many". For
+## this, you must use `*@` (slurpy) which will "take everything else". You can
+## have as many parameters *before* a slurpy one, but not *after*.
+sub as-many($head, *@rest) {
+ say @rest.join(' / ') ~ " !";
}
-say as-many('Happy', 'Happy', 'Birthday'); #=> Happy / Birthday !
- # Note that the splat (the *) did not
- # consume the parameter before.
+say as-many('Happy', 'Happy', 'Birthday');#=> Happy / Birthday !
+ # Note that the splat (the *) did not
+ # consume the parameter before it.
-## You can call a function with an array using the
-## "argument list flattening" operator `|`
-## (it's not actually the only role of this operator, but it's one of them)
+## You can call a function with an array using the "argument list flattening"
+## operator `|` (it's not actually the only role of this operator,
+## but it's one of them).
sub concat3($a, $b, $c) {
- say "$a, $b, $c";
+ say "$a, $b, $c";
}
concat3(|@array); #=> a, b, c
# `@array` got "flattened" as a part of the argument list
@@ -234,159 +240,189 @@ concat3(|@array); #=> a, b, c
## Containers
```perl6
-## In Perl 6, values are actually stored in "containers".
-## The assignment operator asks the container on the left to store the value on
-## its right. When passed around, containers are marked as immutable.
-## Which means that, in a function, you'll get an error if you try to
-## mutate one of your arguments.
-## If you really need to, you can ask for a mutable container using `is rw`:
-sub mutate($n is rw) {
- $n++;
- say "\$n is now $n !";
+## In Perl 6, values are actually stored in "containers". The assignment
+## operator asks the container on the left to store the value on its right.
+## When passed around, containers are marked as immutable which means that,
+## in a function, you'll get an error if you try to mutate one of your
+## arguments. If you really need to, you can ask for a mutable container by
+## using the `is rw` trait:
+sub mutate( $n is rw ) {
+ $n++; # postfix ++ operator increments its argument but returns its old value
}
my $m = 42;
-mutate $m; # $n is now 43 !
+mutate $m; # the value is incremented but the old value is returned
+ #=> 42
+say $m; #=> 43
-## This works because we are passing the container $m to mutate. If we try
-## to just pass a number instead of passing a variable it won't work because
-## there is no container being passed and integers are immutable by themselves:
+## This works because we are passing the container $m to the `mutate` sub.
+## If we try to just pass a number instead of passing a variable it won't work
+## because there is no container being passed and integers are immutable by
+## themselves:
mutate 42; # Parameter '$n' expected a writable container, but got Int value
-## If what you want a copy instead, use `is copy`.
+## Similar error would be obtained, if a bound variable is passed to
+## to the subroutine:
+
+my $v := 50; # binding 50 to the variable $v
+mutate $v; # Parameter '$n' expected a writable container, but got Int value
+
+## If what you want is a copy instead, use the `is copy` trait which will
+## cause the argument to be copied and allow you to modify the argument
+## inside the routine.
## A sub itself returns a container, which means it can be marked as rw:
my $x = 42;
sub x-store() is rw { $x }
x-store() = 52; # in this case, the parentheses are mandatory
# (else Perl 6 thinks `x-store` is an identifier)
-say $x; #=> 52
+say $x; #=> 52
```
## Control Flow Structures
+
### Conditionals
```perl6
## - `if`
## Before talking about `if`, we need to know which values are "Truthy"
-## (represent True), and which are "Falsey" (or "Falsy") -- represent False.
-## Only these values are Falsey: 0, (), {}, "", Nil, A type (like `Str` or
-## `Int`) and of course False itself.
-## Every other value is Truthy.
+## (represent True), and which are "Falsey" (represent False). Only these
+## values are Falsey: 0, (), {}, "", Nil, A type (like `Str` or `Int`) and
+## of course False itself. Any other value is Truthy.
if True {
- say "It's true !";
+ say "It's true!";
}
unless False {
- say "It's not false !";
+ say "It's not false!";
}
-## As you can see, you don't need parentheses around conditions.
-## However, you do need the brackets around the "body" block:
-# if (true) say; # This doesn't work !
+## As you can see, you don't need parentheses around conditions. However, you
+## do need the curly braces around the "body" block. For example,
+## `if (true) say;` doesn't work.
-## You can also use their postfix versions, with the keyword after:
-say "Quite truthy" if True;
+## You can also use their statement modifier (postfix) versions:
+say "Quite truthy" if True; #=> Quite truthy
+say "Quite falsey" unless False; #=> Quite falsey
-## - Ternary conditional, "?? !!" (like `x ? y : z` in some other languages)
-## returns $value-if-true if the condition is true and $value-if-false
-## if it is false.
-## my $result = $value condition ?? $value-if-true !! $value-if-false;
+## - Ternary operator, "x ?? y !! z"
+## This returns $value-if-true if the condition is true and $value-if-false
+## if it is false.
+## my $result = condition ?? $value-if-true !! $value-if-false;
my $age = 30;
say $age > 18 ?? "You are an adult" !! "You are under 18";
+#=> You are an adult
```
-### given/when, or switch
+### given/when, or Perl 6's switch construct
```perl6
-## - `given`-`when` looks like other languages' `switch`, but is much more
+## `given...when` looks like other languages' `switch`, but is much more
## powerful thanks to smart matching and Perl 6's "topic variable", $_.
##
-## This variable contains the default argument of a block,
-## a loop's current iteration (unless explicitly named), etc.
+## The topic variable $_ contains the default argument of a block, a loop's
+## current iteration (unless explicitly named), etc.
##
## `given` simply puts its argument into `$_` (like a block would do),
## and `when` compares it using the "smart matching" (`~~`) operator.
##
## Since other Perl 6 constructs use this variable (as said before, like `for`,
-## blocks, etc), this means the powerful `when` is not only applicable along
+## blocks, etc), this means the powerful `when` is not only applicable along
## with a `given`, but instead anywhere a `$_` exists.
given "foo bar" {
- say $_; #=> foo bar
- when /foo/ { # Don't worry about smart matching yet – just know `when` uses it
- # This is equivalent to `if $_ ~~ /foo/`.
- say "Yay !";
- }
- when $_.chars > 50 { # smart matching anything with True is True,
- # i.e. (`$a ~~ True`)
- # so you can also put "normal" conditionals.
- # This `when` is equivalent to this `if`:
- # if $_ ~~ ($_.chars > 50) {...}
- # Which means:
- # if $_.chars > 50 {...}
- say "Quite a long string !";
- }
- default { # same as `when *` (using the Whatever Star)
- say "Something else"
- }
+ say $_; #=> foo bar
+ when /foo/ { # Don't worry about smart matching yet. Just know
+ say "Yay !"; # `when` uses it. This is equivalent to `if $_ ~~ /foo/`.
+
+ }
+ when $_.chars > 50 { # smart matching anything with True is True,
+ # i.e. (`$a ~~ True`)
+ # so you can also put "normal" conditionals.
+ # This `when` is equivalent to this `if`:
+ # `if $_ ~~ ($_.chars > 50) {...}`
+ # which means: `if $_.chars > 50 {...}`
+ say "Quite a long string !";
+ }
+ default { # same as `when *` (using the Whatever Star)
+ say "Something else"
+ }
}
```
### Looping constructs
```perl6
-## - `loop` is an infinite loop if you don't pass it arguments,
-## but can also be a C-style `for` loop:
+## - `loop` is an infinite loop if you don't pass it arguments, but can also
+## be a C-style `for` loop:
loop {
- say "This is an infinite loop !";
- last; # last breaks out of the loop, like the `break` keyword in other
- # languages
+ say "This is an infinite loop !";
+ last; # last breaks out of the loop, like
+ # the `break` keyword in other languages
}
loop (my $i = 0; $i < 5; $i++) {
- next if $i == 3; # `next` skips to the next iteration, like `continue`
+ next if $i == 3; # `next` skips to the next iteration, like `continue`
# in other languages. Note that you can also use postfix
# conditionals, loops, etc.
- say "This is a C-style for loop !";
+ say "This is a C-style for loop!";
}
-## - `for` - Passes through an array
+## - `for` - Iterating through an array
+
+my @array = 1, 2, 6, 7, 3;
+
+## Accessing the array's elements with the topic variable $_.
+for @array {
+ say "I've got $_ !";
+}
+
+## Accessing the array's elements with a "pointy block", `->`.
+## Here each element is read-only.
for @array -> $variable {
- say "I've got $variable !";
+ say "I've got $variable !";
}
-## As we saw with given, for's default "current iteration" variable is `$_`.
-## That means you can use `when` in a `for` just like you were in a `given`.
+## Accessing the array's elements with a "doubly pointy block", `<->`.
+## Here each element is read-write so mutating `$variable` mutates
+## that element in the array.
+for @array <-> $variable {
+ say "I've got $variable !";
+}
+
+## As we saw with given, a for loop's default "current iteration" variable
+## is `$_`. That means you can use `when` in a `for`loop just like you were
+## able to in a `given`.
for @array {
- say "I've got $_";
+ say "I've got $_";
- .say; # This is also allowed.
- # A dot call with no "topic" (receiver) is sent to `$_` by default
- $_.say; # the above and this are equivalent.
+ .say; # This is also allowed. A dot call with no "topic" (receiver)
+ # is sent to `$_` by default
+ $_.say; # This is equivalent to the above statement.
}
for @array {
- # You can...
- next if $_ == 3; # Skip to the next iteration (`continue` in C-like languages)
- redo if $_ == 4; # Re-do the iteration, keeping the same topic variable (`$_`)
- last if $_ == 5; # Or break out of a loop (like `break` in C-like languages)
+ # You can...
+ next if $_ == 3; # Skip to the next iteration (`continue` in C-like lang.)
+ redo if $_ == 4; # Re-do iteration, keeping the same topic variable (`$_`)
+ last if $_ == 5; # Or break out of loop (like `break` in C-like lang.)
}
-## The "pointy block" syntax isn't specific to for.
-## It's just a way to express a block in Perl6.
+## The "pointy block" syntax isn't specific to the `for` loop. It's just a way
+## to express a block in Perl 6.
+sub long-computation { "Finding factors of large primes" }
if long-computation() -> $result {
- say "The result is $result";
+ say "The result is $result.";
}
```
## Operators
```perl6
-## Since Perl languages are very much operator-based languages,
-## Perl 6 operators are actually just funny-looking subroutines, in syntactic
+## Since Perl languages are very much operator-based languages, Perl 6
+## operators are actually just funny-looking subroutines, in syntactic
## categories, like infix:<+> (addition) or prefix:<!> (bool not).
## The categories are:
@@ -394,105 +430,127 @@ if long-computation() -> $result {
## - "postfix": after (like `++` in `$a++`).
## - "infix": in between (like `*` in `4 * 3`).
## - "circumfix": around (like `[`-`]` in `[1, 2]`).
-## - "post-circumfix": around, after another term (like `{`-`}` in
-## `%hash{'key'}`)
+## - "post-circumfix": around, after another term (like `{`-`}` in
+## `%hash{'key'}`)
## The associativity and precedence list are explained below.
-## Alright, you're set to go !
+## Alright, you're set to go!
-## * Equality Checking
+## Equality Checking
+##------------------
## - `==` is numeric comparison
-3 == 4; # False
-3 != 4; # True
+3 == 4; #=> False
+3 != 4; #=> True
## - `eq` is string comparison
-'a' eq 'b';
-'a' ne 'b'; # not equal
-'a' !eq 'b'; # same as above
+'a' eq 'b'; #=> False
+'a' ne 'b'; #=> True, not equal
+'a' !eq 'b'; #=> True, same as above
## - `eqv` is canonical equivalence (or "deep equality")
-(1, 2) eqv (1, 3);
+(1, 2) eqv (1, 3); #=> False
+(1, 2) eqv (1, 2); #=> True
+Int === Int #=> True
-## - Smart Match Operator: `~~`
+## - `~~` is the smart match operator
## Aliases the left hand side to $_ and then evaluates the right hand side.
## Here are some common comparison semantics:
-## String or Numeric Equality
-
+## String or numeric equality
'Foo' ~~ 'Foo'; # True if strings are equal.
-12.5 ~~ 12.50; # True if numbers are equal.
+12.5 ~~ 12.50; # True if numbers are equal.
## Regex - For matching a regular expression against the left side.
-## Returns a (Match) object, which evaluates as True if regexp matches.
+## Returns a `Match` object, which evaluates as True if regexp matches.
my $obj = 'abc' ~~ /a/;
-say $obj; # 「a」
-say $obj.WHAT; # (Match)
+say $obj; #=> 「a」
+say $obj.WHAT; #=> (Match)
## Hashes
-'key' ~~ %hash; # True if key exists in hash
-
-## Type - Checks if left side "has type" (can check superclasses and roles)
-
-1 ~~ Int; # True
+'key' ~~ %hash; # True if key exists in hash.
-## Smart-matching against a boolean always returns that boolean (and will warn).
+## Type - Checks if left side "is of type" (can check superclasses and
+## roles).
+say 1 ~~ Int; #=> True
-1 ~~ True; # True
-False ~~ True; # True
+## Smart-matching against a boolean always returns that boolean
+## (and will warn).
+say 1 ~~ True; #=> True
+say False ~~ True; #=> True
-## General syntax is $arg ~~ &bool-returning-function;
-## For a complete list of combinations, use this table:
+## General syntax is `$arg ~~ &bool-returning-function;`. For a complete list
+## of combinations, use this table:
## http://perlcabal.org/syn/S03.html#Smart_matching
-## You also, of course, have `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=`.
-## Their string equivalent are also available : `lt`, `le`, `gt`, `ge`.
-3 > 4;
+## Of course, you also use `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=` for numeric comparison.
+## Their string equivalent are also available: `lt`, `le`, `gt`, `ge`.
+3 > 4; # False
+3 >= 4; # False
+3 < 4; # True
+3 <= 4; # True
+'a' gt 'b'; # False
+'a' ge 'b'; # False
+'a' lt 'b'; # True
+'a' le 'b'; # True
+
+
+## Range constructor
+##------------------
+3 .. 7; # 3 to 7, both included
+3 ..^ 7; # 3 to 7, exclude right endpoint.
+3 ^.. 7; # 3 to 7, exclude left endpoint. Same as `4..7`.
+3 ^..^ 7; # 3 to 7, exclude both endpoints. Same as `4..6`.
-## * Range constructors
-3 .. 7; # 3 to 7, both included
-## `^` on either side them exclusive on that side :
-3 ^..^ 7; # 3 to 7, not included (basically `4 .. 6`)
## This also works as a shortcut for `0..^N`:
-^10; # means 0..^10
+^10; # means 0..^10
## This also allows us to demonstrate that Perl 6 has lazy/infinite arrays,
## using the Whatever Star:
-my @array = 1..*; # 1 to Infinite ! `1..Inf` is the same.
-say @array[^10]; # you can pass arrays as subscripts and it'll return
- # an array of results. This will print
- # "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10" (and not run out of memory !)
-## Note : when reading an infinite list, Perl 6 will "reify" the elements
+my @array = 1..*; # 1 to Infinite! Equivalent to `1..Inf`.
+say @array[^10]; # You can pass ranges as subscripts and it'll return
+ # an array of results. This will print
+ # "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10" (and not run out of memory!)
+
+## Note: when reading an infinite list, Perl 6 will "reify" the elements
## it needs, then keep them in memory. They won't be calculated more than once.
## It also will never calculate more elements that are needed.
-## Trying
-## An array subscript can also be a closure.
-## It'll be called with the length as the argument
+## An array subscript can also be a closure. It'll be called with the length
+## as the argument:
say join(' ', @array[15..*]); #=> 15 16 17 18 19
## which is equivalent to:
say join(' ', @array[-> $n { 15..$n }]);
+
## Note: if you try to do either of those with an infinite array,
-## you'll trigger an infinite loop (your program won't finish)
+## you'll trigger an infinite loop (your program won't finish).
-## You can use that in most places you'd expect, even assigning to an array
+## You can use that in most places you'd expect, even when assigning to
+## an array:
my @numbers = ^20;
-## Here numbers increase by "6"; more on `...` operator later.
-my @seq = 3, 9 ... * > 95; # 3 9 15 21 27 [...] 81 87 93 99;
+## Here the numbers increase by 6, like an arithmetic sequence; more on the
+## sequence (`...`) operator later.
+my @seq = 3, 9 ... * > 95; # 3 9 15 21 27 [...] 81 87 93 99;
@numbers[5..*] = 3, 9 ... *; # even though the sequence is infinite,
# only the 15 needed values will be calculated.
-say @numbers; #=> 0 1 2 3 4 3 9 15 21 [...] 81 87
- # (only 20 values)
+say @numbers; #=> 0 1 2 3 4 3 9 15 21 [...] 81 87
+ # (only 20 values)
-## * And &&, Or ||
-3 && 4; # 4, which is Truthy. Calls `.Bool` on `4` and gets `True`.
-0 || False; # False. Calls `.Bool` on `0`
+## and (&&), or (||)
+##------------------
+3 && 4; # 4, which is Truthy. Calls `.Bool` on both 3 and 4 and gets `True`
+ # so it returns 4 since both are `True`.
+3 && 0; # 0
+0 && 4; # 0
-## * Short-circuit (and tight) versions of the above
-# Returns the first argument that evaluates to False, or the last argument.
+0 || False; # False. Calls `.Bool` on `0` and `False` which are both `False`
+ # so it retusns `False` since both are `False`.
+
+## Short-circuit (and tight) versions of the above
+## Return the first argument that evaluates to False, or the last argument.
my ( $a, $b, $c ) = 1, 0, 2;
$a && $b && $c; # Returns 0, the first False value
@@ -500,203 +558,242 @@ $a && $b && $c; # Returns 0, the first False value
## || Returns the first argument that evaluates to True
$b || $a; # 1
-## And because you're going to want them,
-## you also have compound assignment operators:
-$a *= 2; # multiply and assignment. Equivalent to $a = $a * 2;
-$b %%= 5; # divisible by and assignment
+## And because you're going to want them, you also have compound assignment
+## operators:
+$a *= 2; # multiply and assignment. Equivalent to $a = $a * 2;
+$b %%= 5; # divisible by and assignment. Equivalent to $b = $b %% 2;
+$c div= 3; # return divisor and assignment. Equivalent to $c = $c div 3;
+$d mod= 4; # return remainder and assignment. Equivalent to $d = $d mod 4;
@array .= sort; # calls the `sort` method and assigns the result back
```
-## More on subs !
+## More on subs!
```perl6
-## As we said before, Perl 6 has *really* powerful subs. We're going to see
-## a few more key concepts that make them better than in any other language :-).
+## As we said before, Perl 6 has *really* powerful subs. We're going
+## to see a few more key concepts that make them better than in any
+## other language :-).
```
-### Unpacking !
+### Unpacking!
```perl6
-## It's the ability to "extract" arrays and keys (AKA "destructuring").
-## It'll work in `my`s and in parameter lists.
+## Unpacking is the ability to "extract" arrays and keys
+## (AKA "destructuring"). It'll work in `my`s and in parameter lists.
my ($f, $g) = 1, 2;
-say $f; #=> 1
-my ($, $, $h) = 1, 2, 3; # keep the non-interesting anonymous
-say $h; #=> 3
+say $f; #=> 1
+my ($, $, $h) = 1, 2, 3; # keep the non-interesting values anonymous (`$`)
+say $h; #=> 3
my ($head, *@tail) = 1, 2, 3; # Yes, it's the same as with "slurpy subs"
my (*@small) = 1;
-sub unpack_array(@array [$fst, $snd]) {
- say "My first is $fst, my second is $snd ! All in all, I'm @array[].";
+sub unpack_array( @array [$fst, $snd] ) {
+ say "My first is $fst, my second is $snd! All in all, I'm @array[].";
# (^ remember the `[]` to interpolate the array)
}
-unpack_array(@tail); #=> My first is 2, my second is 3 ! All in all, I'm 2 3
+unpack_array(@tail); #=> My first is 2, my second is 3! All in all, I'm 2 3.
## If you're not using the array itself, you can also keep it anonymous,
## much like a scalar:
-sub first-of-array(@ [$fst]) { $fst }
+sub first-of-array( @ [$fst] ) { $fst }
first-of-array(@small); #=> 1
-first-of-array(@tail); # Throws an error "Too many positional parameters passed"
- # (which means the array is too big).
+first-of-array(@tail); # Error: "Too many positional parameters passed"
+ # (which means the array is too big).
-## You can also use a slurp ...
+## You can also use a slurp...
sub slurp-in-array(@ [$fst, *@rest]) { # You could keep `*@rest` anonymous
- say $fst + @rest.elems; # `.elems` returns a list's length.
- # Here, `@rest` is `(3,)`, since `$fst` holds the `2`.
+ say $fst + @rest.elems; # `.elems` returns a list's length.
+ # Here, `@rest` is `(3,)`, since `$fst`
+ # holds the `2`.
}
-slurp-in-array(@tail); #=> 3
+slurp-in-array(@tail); #=> 3
## You could even extract on a slurpy (but it's pretty useless ;-).)
-sub fst(*@ [$fst]) { # or simply : `sub fst($fst) { ... }`
- say $fst;
+sub fst(*@ [$fst]) { # or simply: `sub fst($fst) { ... }`
+ say $fst;
}
-fst(1); #=> 1
+fst(1); #=> 1
fst(1, 2); # errors with "Too many positional parameters passed"
-## You can also destructure hashes (and classes, which you'll learn about later)
-## The syntax is basically `%hash-name (:key($variable-to-store-value-in))`.
+## You can also destructure hashes (and classes, which you'll learn about
+## later). The syntax is basically the same as
+## `%hash-name (:key($variable-to-store-value-in))`.
## The hash can stay anonymous if you only need the values you extracted.
-sub key-of(% (:value($val), :qua($qua))) {
- say "Got val $val, $qua times.";
+sub key-of( % (:value($val), :qua($qua)) ) {
+ say "Got val $val, $qua times.";
}
-## Then call it with a hash: (you need to keep the brackets for it to be a hash)
-key-of({value => 'foo', qua => 1});
+## Then call it with a hash. You need to keep the curly braces for it to be a
+## hash or use `%()` instead to indicate a hash is being passed.
+key-of({value => 'foo', qua => 1}); #=> Got val foo, 1 times.
+key-of(%(value => 'foo', qua => 1)); #=> Got val foo, 1 times.
#key-of(%hash); # the same (for an equivalent `%hash`)
-## The last expression of a sub is returned automatically
-## (though you may use the `return` keyword, of course):
-sub next-index($n) {
- $n + 1;
+## The last expression of a sub is returned automatically (though you may
+## indicate explicitly by using the `return` keyword, of course):
+sub next-index( $n ) {
+ $n + 1;
}
my $new-n = next-index(3); # $new-n is now 4
-## This is true for everything, except for the looping constructs
-## (due to performance reasons): there's reason to build a list
-## if we're just going to discard all the results.
-## If you still want to build one, you can use the `do` statement prefix:
-## (or the `gather` prefix, which we'll see later)
-sub list-of($n) {
- do for ^$n { # note the use of the range-to prefix operator `^` (`0..^N`)
- $_ # current loop iteration
- }
+## This is true for everything, except for the looping constructs (due to
+## performance reasons): there's no reason to build a list if we're just going to
+## discard all the results. If you still want to build one, you can use the
+## `do` statement prefix or the `gather` prefix, which we'll see later:
+
+sub list-of( $n ) {
+ do for ^$n { # note the range-to prefix operator `^` (`0..^N`)
+ $_ # current loop iteration known as the "topic" variable
+ }
}
my @list3 = list-of(3); #=> (0, 1, 2)
```
-### lambdas
+### lambdas (or anonymous subroutines)
```perl6
-## You can create a lambda with `-> {}` ("pointy block") or `{}` ("block")
-my &lambda = -> $argument { "The argument passed to this lambda is $argument" }
+## You can create a lambda with `-> {}` ("pointy block") ,
+## `{}` ("block") or `sub {}`.
+
+my &lambda1 = -> $argument {
+ "The argument passed to this lambda is $argument"
+}
+
+my &lambda2 = {
+ "The argument passed to this lambda is $_"
+}
+
+my &lambda3 = sub ($argument) {
+ "The argument passed to this lambda is $argument"
+}
+
## `-> {}` and `{}` are pretty much the same thing, except that the former can
## take arguments, and that the latter can be mistaken as a hash by the parser.
-## We can, for example, add 3 to each value of an array using map:
+## We can, for example, add 3 to each value of an array using the
+## `map` function with a lambda:
my @arrayplus3 = map({ $_ + 3 }, @array); # $_ is the implicit argument
## A sub (`sub {}`) has different semantics than a block (`{}` or `-> {}`):
## A block doesn't have a "function context" (though it can have arguments),
-## which means that if you return from it,
-## you're going to return from the parent function. Compare:
-sub is-in(@array, $elem) {
- # this will `return` out of the `is-in` sub
- # once the condition evaluated to True, the loop won't be run anymore
- map({ return True if $_ == $elem }, @array);
-}
-sub truthy-array(@array) {
- # this will produce an array of `True` and `False`:
- # (you can also say `anon sub` for "anonymous subroutine")
- map(sub ($i) { if $i { return True } else { return False } }, @array);
- # ^ the `return` only returns from the anonymous `sub`
-}
-
-## You can also use the "whatever star" to create an anonymous function
+## which means that if you return from it, you're going to return from the
+## parent function. Compare:
+sub is-in( @array, $elem ) {
+ # this will `return` out of the `is-in` sub once the condition evaluated
+ ## to True, the loop won't be run anymore.
+ map({ return True if $_ == $elem }, @array);
+}
+## with:
+sub truthy-array( @array ) {
+ # this will produce an array of `True` and `False`:
+ # (you can also say `anon sub` for "anonymous subroutine")
+ map(sub ($i) { if $i { return True } else { return False } }, @array);
+ # ^ the `return` only returns from the anonymous `sub`
+}
+
+## The `anon` declarator can be used to create an anonymous sub from a
+## regular subroutine. The regular sub knows its name but its symbol is
+## prevented from getting installed in the lexical scope, the method table
+## and everywhere else.
+
+my $anon-sum = anon sub summation(*@a) { [+] *@a }
+say $anon-sum.name; #=> summation
+say $anon-sum(2, 3, 5); #=> 10
+#say summation; #=> Error: Undeclared routine: ...
+
+## You can also use the "whatever star" to create an anonymous subroutine.
## (it'll stop at the furthest operator in the current expression)
-my @arrayplus3 = map(*+3, @array); # `*+3` is the same as `{ $_ + 3 }`
+my @arrayplus3 = map(*+3, @array); # `*+3` is the same as `{ $_ + 3 }`
my @arrayplus3 = map(*+*+3, @array); # Same as `-> $a, $b { $a + $b + 3 }`
# also `sub ($a, $b) { $a + $b + 3 }`
-say (*/2)(4); #=> 2
- # Immediately execute the function Whatever created.
+say (*/2)(4); #=> 2
+ # Immediately execute the function Whatever created.
say ((*+3)/5)(5); #=> 1.6
- # works even in parens !
-
-## But if you need to have more than one argument (`$_`)
-## in a block (without wanting to resort to `-> {}`),
-## you can also use the implicit argument syntax, `$^` :
-map({ $^a + $^b + 3 }, @array); # equivalent to following:
-map(sub ($a, $b) { $a + $b + 3 }, @array); # (here with `sub`)
-
-## Note : those are sorted lexicographically.
-# `{ $^b / $^a }` is like `-> $a, $b { $b / $a }`
+ # It works even in parens!
+
+## But if you need to have more than one argument (`$_`) in a block (without
+## wanting to resort to `-> {}`), you can also use the implicit argument
+## syntax, `$^`:
+map({ $^a + $^b + 3 }, @array);
+# which is equivalent to the following which uses a `sub`:
+map(sub ($a, $b) { $a + $b + 3 }, @array);
+
+## The parameters `$^a`, `$^b`, etc. are known as placeholder parameters or
+## self-declared positional parameters. They're sorted lexicographically so
+## `{ $^b / $^a }` is equivalent `-> $a, $b { $b / $a }`.
```
### About types...
```perl6
-## Perl6 is gradually typed. This means you can specify the type
-## of your variables/arguments/return types, or you can omit them
-## and they'll default to "Any".
-## You obviously get access to a few base types, like Int and Str.
-## The constructs for declaring types are "class", "role",
-## which you'll see later.
-
-## For now, let us examine "subset":
-## a "subset" is a "sub-type" with additional checks.
-## For example: "a very big integer is an Int that's greater than 500"
-## You can specify the type you're subtyping (by default, Any),
-## and add additional checks with the "where" keyword:
+## Perl 6 is gradually typed. This means you can specify the type of your
+## variables/arguments/return types, or you can omit the type annotations in
+## in which case they'll default to `Any`. Obviously you get access to a few
+## base types, like `Int` and `Str`. The constructs for declaring types are
+## "subset", "class", "role", etc. which you'll see later.
+
+## For now, let us examine "subset" which is a "sub-type" with additional
+## checks. For example, "a very big integer is an Int that's greater than 500".
+## You can specify the type you're subtyping (by default, `Any`), and add
+## additional checks with the `where` clause:
subset VeryBigInteger of Int where * > 500;
+## Or the set of the whole numbers:
+subset WholeNumber of Int where * >= 0;
```
### Multiple Dispatch
```perl6
## Perl 6 can decide which variant of a `sub` to call based on the type of the
-## arguments, or on arbitrary preconditions, like with a type or a `where`:
+## arguments, or on arbitrary preconditions, like with a type or `where`:
-## with types
-multi sub sayit(Int $n) { # note the `multi` keyword here
+## with types:
+multi sub sayit( Int $n ) { # note the `multi` keyword here
say "Number: $n";
}
-multi sayit(Str $s) { # a multi is a `sub` by default
+multi sayit( Str $s ) { # a multi is a `sub` by default
say "String: $s";
}
-sayit("foo"); # prints "String: foo"
-sayit(True); # fails at *compile time* with
- # "calling 'sayit' will never work with arguments of types ..."
+sayit("foo"); #=> "String: foo"
+sayit(25); #=> "Number: 25"
+sayit(True); # fails at *compile time* with "calling 'sayit' will never
+ # work with arguments of types ..."
-## with arbitrary precondition (remember subsets?):
-multi is-big(Int $n where * > 50) { "Yes !" } # using a closure
-multi is-big(Int $ where 10..50) { "Quite." } # Using smart-matching
- # (could use a regexp, etc)
+## with arbitrary preconditions (remember subsets?):
+multi is-big(Int $n where * > 50) { "Yes!" } # using a closure
+multi is-big(Int $n where {$_ > 50}) { "Yes!" } # similar to above
+multi is-big(Int $ where 10..50) { "Quite." } # Using smart-matching
+ # (could use a regexp, etc)
multi is-big(Int $) { "No" }
subset Even of Int where * %% 2;
-
multi odd-or-even(Even) { "Even" } # The main case using the type.
# We don't name the argument.
-multi odd-or-even($) { "Odd" } # "else"
+multi odd-or-even($) { "Odd" } # "everthing else" hence the $ variable
-## You can even dispatch based on a positional's argument presence !
-multi with-or-without-you(:$with!) { # You need make it mandatory to
- # be able to dispatch against it.
- say "I can live ! Actually, I can't.";
+## You can even dispatch based on the presence of positional and
+## named arguments:
+multi with-or-without-you($with) {
+ say "I wish I could but I can't";
+}
+multi with-or-without-you(:$with) {
+ say "I can live! Actually, I can't.";
}
multi with-or-without-you {
- say "Definitely can't live.";
+ say "Definitely can't live.";
}
-## This is very, very useful for many purposes, like `MAIN` subs (covered
-## later), and even the language itself is using it in several places.
+
+## This is very, very useful for many purposes, like `MAIN` subs (covered
+## later), and even the language itself uses it in several places.
##
## - `is`, for example, is actually a `multi sub` named `trait_mod:<is>`,
## and it works off that.
## - `is rw`, is simply a dispatch to a function with this signature:
## sub trait_mod:<is>(Routine $r, :$rw!) {}
##
-## (commented because running this would be a terrible idea !)
+## (commented out because running this would be a terrible idea!)
```
## Scoping
@@ -705,175 +802,207 @@ multi with-or-without-you {
## In Perl 6, unlike many scripting languages, (such as Python, Ruby, PHP),
## you must declare your variables before using them. The `my` declarator
## you have learned uses "lexical scoping". There are a few other declarators,
-## (`our`, `state`, ..., ) which we'll see later.
-## This is called "lexical scoping", where in inner blocks,
-## you can access variables from outer blocks.
+## (`our`, `state`, ..., ) which we'll see later. This is called
+## "lexical scoping", where in inner blocks, you can access variables from
+## outer blocks.
my $file_scoped = 'Foo';
sub outer {
- my $outer_scoped = 'Bar';
- sub inner {
- say "$file_scoped $outer_scoped";
- }
- &inner; # return the function
+ my $outer_scoped = 'Bar';
+ sub inner {
+ say "$file_scoped $outer_scoped";
+ }
+ &inner; # return the function
}
-outer()(); #=> 'Foo Bar'
+outer()(); #=> 'Foo Bar'
## As you can see, `$file_scoped` and `$outer_scoped` were captured.
-## But if we were to try and use `$bar` outside of `foo`,
+## But if we were to try and use `$outer_scoped` outside the `outer` sub,
## the variable would be undefined (and you'd get a compile time error).
```
## Twigils
```perl6
-## There are many special `twigils` (composed sigil's) in Perl 6.
-## Twigils define the variables' scope.
+## There are many special `twigils` (composed sigils) in Perl 6. Twigils
+## define the variables' scope.
## The * and ? twigils work on standard variables:
## * Dynamic variable
## ? Compile-time variable
## The ! and the . twigils are used with Perl 6's objects:
-## ! Attribute (class member)
+## ! Attribute (instance attribute)
## . Method (not really a variable)
-## `*` Twigil: Dynamic Scope
-## These variables use the`*` twigil to mark dynamically-scoped variables.
+## `*` twigil: Dynamic Scope
+## These variables use the `*` twigil to mark dynamically-scoped variables.
## Dynamically-scoped variables are looked up through the caller, not through
-## the outer scope
+## the outer scope.
my $*dyn_scoped_1 = 1;
my $*dyn_scoped_2 = 10;
sub say_dyn {
- say "$*dyn_scoped_1 $*dyn_scoped_2";
+ say "$*dyn_scoped_1 $*dyn_scoped_2";
}
sub call_say_dyn {
my $*dyn_scoped_1 = 25; # Defines $*dyn_scoped_1 only for this sub.
- $*dyn_scoped_2 = 100; # Will change the value of the file scoped variable.
- say_dyn(); #=> 25 100 $*dyn_scoped 1 and 2 will be looked for in the call.
- # It uses the value of $*dyn_scoped_1 from inside this sub's
- # lexical scope even though the blocks aren't nested (they're
- # call-nested).
-}
-say_dyn(); #=> 1 10
+ $*dyn_scoped_2 = 100; # Will change the value of the file scoped variable.
+ say_dyn(); #=> 25 100, $*dyn_scoped 1 and 2 will be looked
+ # for in the call.
+ # It uses the value of $*dyn_scoped_1 from inside
+ # this sub's lexical scope even though the blocks
+ # aren't nested (they're call-nested).
+}
+say_dyn(); #=> 1 10
call_say_dyn(); #=> 25 100
# Uses $*dyn_scoped_1 as defined in call_say_dyn even though
# we are calling it from outside.
-say_dyn(); #=> 1 100 We changed the value of $*dyn_scoped_2 in call_say_dyn
- # so now its value has changed.
+say_dyn(); #=> 1 100 We changed the value of $*dyn_scoped_2 in
+ # call_say_dyn so now its value has changed.
```
## Object Model
```perl6
## To call a method on an object, add a dot followed by the method name:
-## => $object.method
+## `$object.method`
+
## Classes are declared with the `class` keyword. Attributes are declared
-## with the `has` keyword, and methods declared with `method`.
-## Every attribute that is private uses the ! twigil for example: `$!attr`.
-## Immutable public attributes use the `.` twigil.
-## (you can make them mutable with `is rw`)
-## The easiest way to remember the `$.` twigil is comparing it to how methods
-## are called.
-
-## Perl 6's object model ("SixModel") is very flexible,
-## and allows you to dynamically add methods, change semantics, etc ...
-## (these will not all be covered here, and you should refer to:
+## with the `has` keyword, and methods declared with the `method` keyword.
+
+## Every attribute that is private uses the ! twigil. For example: `$!attr`.
+## Immutable public attributes use the `.` twigil which creates a read-only
+## method named after the attribute. In fact, declaring an attribute with `.`
+## is equivalent to declaring the same attribute with `!` and then creating
+## a read-only method with the attribute's name. However, this is done for us
+## by Perl 6 automatically. The easiest way to remember the `$.` twigil is
+## by comparing it to how methods are called.
+
+## Perl 6's object model ("SixModel") is very flexible, and allows you to
+## dynamically add methods, change semantics, etc... Unfortunately, these will
+## not all be covered here, and you should refer to:
## https://docs.perl6.org/language/objects.html.
-class Attrib-Class {
- has $.attrib; # `$.attrib` is immutable.
- # From inside the class, use `$!attrib` to modify it.
- has $.other-attrib is rw; # You can mark a public attribute `rw`.
- has Int $!private-attrib = 10;
-
- method get-value {
- $.attrib + $!private-attrib;
- }
+class Human {
+ has Str $.name; # `$.name` is immutable but with an accessor method.
+ has Str $.bcountry; # Use `$!bcountry` to modify it inside the class.
+ has Str $.ccountry is rw; # This attribute can be modified from outside.
+ has Int $!age = 0; # A private attribute with default value.
- method set-value($param) { # Methods can take parameters
- $!attrib = $param; # This works, because `$!` is always mutable.
- # $.attrib = $param; # Wrong: You can't use the `$.` immutable version.
+ method birthday {
+ $!age += 1; # Add a year to human's age
+ }
- $.other-attrib = 5; # This works, because `$.other-attrib` is `rw`.
- }
+ method get-age {
+ return $!age;
+ }
- method !private-method {
- say "This method is private to the class !";
- }
+ # This method is private to the class. Note the `!` before the
+ # method's name.
+ method !do-decoration {
+ return "$!name was born in $!bcountry and now lives in $!ccountry."
+ }
+
+ # This method is public, just like `birthday` and `get-age`.
+ method get-info {
+ self.do-decoration; # Invoking a method on `self` inside the class.
+ # Use `self!priv-method` for private method.
+ # Use `self.publ-method` for public method.
+ }
};
-## Create a new instance of Attrib-Class with $.attrib set to 5 :
+## Create a new instance of Human class.
## Note: you can't set private-attribute from here (more later on).
-my $class-obj = Attrib-Class.new(attrib => 5);
-say $class-obj.get-value; #=> 15
-# $class-obj.attrib = 5; # This fails, because the `has $.attrib` is immutable
-$class-obj.other-attrib = 10; # This, however, works, because the public
- # attribute is mutable (`rw`).
+my $person1 = Human.new(
+ name => "Jord",
+ bcountry = "Togo",
+ ccountry => "Togo"
+);
+
+say $person1.name; #=> Jord
+say $person1.bcountry; #=> Togo
+say $person1.ccountry; #=> Togo
+
+
+# $person1.bcountry = "Mali"; # This fails, because the `has $.bcountry`
+ # is immutable. Jord can't change his birthplace.
+$person1.ccountry = "France"; # This works because the `$.ccountry` is mutable
+ # (`is rw`). Now Jord's current country is France.
+
+# Calling methods on the instance objects.
+$person1.birthday; #=> 1
+$person1.get-info; #=> Jord was born in Togo and now lives in France.
+$person1.do-decoration; # This fails since the method `do-decoration` is
+ # private.
```
### Object Inheritance
```perl6
-## Perl 6 also has inheritance (along with multiple inheritance)
-## While `method`'s are inherited, `submethod`'s are not.
-## Submethods are useful for object construction and destruction tasks,
-## such as BUILD, or methods that must be overridden by subtypes.
-## We will learn about BUILD later on.
+## Perl 6 also has inheritance (along with multiple inheritance). While
+## methods are inherited, submethods are not. Submethods are useful for
+## object construction and destruction tasks, such as BUILD, or methods that
+## must be overridden by subtypes. We will learn about BUILD later on.
class Parent {
- has $.age;
- has $.name;
- # This submethod won't be inherited by Child.
- submethod favorite-color {
- say "My favorite color is Blue";
- }
- # This method is inherited
- method talk { say "Hi, my name is $!name" }
+ has $.age;
+ has $.name;
+
+ # This submethod won't be inherited by the Child class.
+ submethod favorite-color {
+ say "My favorite color is Blue";
+ }
+
+ # This method is inherited
+ method talk { say "Hi, my name is $!name" }
}
+
# Inheritance uses the `is` keyword
class Child is Parent {
- method talk { say "Goo goo ga ga" }
- # This shadows Parent's `talk` method, This child hasn't learned to speak yet!
+ method talk { say "Goo goo ga ga" }
+ # This shadows Parent's `talk` method.
+ # This child hasn't learned to speak yet!
}
+
my Parent $Richard .= new(age => 40, name => 'Richard');
-$Richard.favorite-color; #=> "My favorite color is Blue"
-$Richard.talk; #=> "Hi, my name is Richard"
-## $Richard is able to access the submethod, he knows how to say his name.
+$Richard.favorite-color; #=> "My favorite color is Blue"
+$Richard.talk; #=> "Hi, my name is Richard"
+## $Richard is able to access the submethod and he knows how to say his name.
my Child $Madison .= new(age => 1, name => 'Madison');
-$Madison.talk; # prints "Goo goo ga ga" due to the overridden method.
-# $Madison.favorite-color # does not work since it is not inherited
+$Madison.talk; #=> "Goo goo ga ga", due to the overridden method.
+# $Madison.favorite-color # does not work since it is not inherited.
## When you use `my T $var`, `$var` starts off with `T` itself in it,
## so you can call `new` on it.
## (`.=` is just the dot-call and the assignment operator:
-## `$a .= b` is the same as `$a = $a.b`)
+## `$a .= b` is the same as `$a = $a.b`)
## Also note that `BUILD` (the method called inside `new`)
-## will set parent properties too, so you can pass `val => 5`.
+## will set parent's properties too, so you can pass `val => 5`.
```
### Roles, or Mixins
```perl6
-## Roles are supported too (also called Mixins in other languages)
+## Roles are supported too (which are called Mixins in other languages)
role PrintableVal {
- has $!counter = 0;
- method print {
- say $.val;
- }
+ has $!counter = 0;
+ method print {
+ say $.val;
+ }
}
-## you "import" a mixin (a "role") with "does":
+## you "apply" a role (or mixin) with `does` keyword:
class Item does PrintableVal {
- has $.val;
+ has $.val;
- ## When `does`-ed, a `role` literally "mixes in" the class:
- ## the methods and attributes are put together, which means a class can access
- ## the private attributes/methods of its roles (but not the inverse !):
- method access {
- say $!counter++;
- }
+ ## When `does`-ed, a `role` literally "mixes in" the class:
+ ## the methods and attributes are put together, which means a class
+ ## can access the private attributes/methods of its roles (but
+ ## not the inverse!):
+ method access {
+ say $!counter++;
+ }
## However, this:
## method print {}
@@ -881,9 +1010,9 @@ class Item does PrintableVal {
## (this means a parent class can shadow a child class's `multi print() {}`,
## but it's an error if a role does)
- ## NOTE: You can use a role as a class (with `is ROLE`). In this case,
- ## methods will be shadowed, since the compiler will consider `ROLE` to
- ## be a class.
+ ## NOTE: You can use a role as a class (with `is ROLE`). In this case,
+ ## methods will be shadowed, since the compiler will consider `ROLE`
+ ## to be a class.
}
```
@@ -891,91 +1020,109 @@ class Item does PrintableVal {
```perl6
## Exceptions are built on top of classes, in the package `X` (like `X::IO`).
-## In Perl6 exceptions are automatically 'thrown'
-open 'foo'; #> Failed to open file foo: no such file or directory
-## It will also print out what line the error was thrown at and other error info
+## In Perl6 exceptions are automatically 'thrown':
+open 'foo'; #=> Failed to open file foo: no such file or directory
+## It will also print out what line the error was thrown at
+## and other error info.
## You can throw an exception using `die`:
die 'Error!'; #=> Error!
## Or more explicitly:
-die X::AdHoc.new(payload => 'Error!');
+X::AdHoc.new(payload => 'Error!').throw; #=> Error!
## In Perl 6, `orelse` is similar to the `or` operator, except it only matches
-## undefined variables instead of anything evaluating as false.
+## undefined variables instead of anything evaluating as `False`.
## Undefined values include: `Nil`, `Mu` and `Failure` as well as `Int`, `Str`
## and other types that have not been initialized to any value yet.
## You can check if something is defined or not using the defined method:
my $uninitialized;
-say $uninitiazilzed.defined; #> False
-## When using `orelse` it will disarm the exception and alias $_ to that failure
-## This will avoid it being automatically handled and printing lots of scary
-## error messages to the screen.
-## We can use the exception method on $_ to access the exception
+say $uninitiazilzed.defined; #=> False
+
+## When using `orelse` it will disarm the exception and alias $_ to that
+## failure. This will prevent it to being automatically handled and printing
+## lots of scary error messages to the screen. We can use the `exception`
+## method on the `$_` variable to access the exception
open 'foo' orelse say "Something happened {.exception}";
## This also works:
-open 'foo' orelse say "Something happened $_"; #> Something happened
- #> Failed to open file foo: no such file or directory
-## Both of those above work but in case we get an object from the left side that
-## is not a failure we will probably get a warning. We see below how we can use
-## `try` and `CATCH` to be more specific with the exceptions we catch.
+open 'foo' orelse say "Something happened $_"; #=> Something happened
+ #=> Failed to open file foo: no such file or directory
+## Both of those above work but in case we get an object from the left side
+## that is not a failure we will probably get a warning. We see below how we
+## can use try` and `CATCH` to be more specific with the exceptions we catch.
```
### Using `try` and `CATCH`
```perl6
## By using `try` and `CATCH` you can contain and handle exceptions without
-## disrupting the rest of the program. `try` will set the last exception to
-## the special variable `$!` Note: This has no relation to $!variables.
+## disrupting the rest of the program. The `try` block will set the last
+## exception to the special variable `$!` (known as the error variable).
+## Note: This has no relation to $!variables seen inside class definitions.
+
try open 'foo';
-say "Well, I tried! $!" if defined $!; #> Well, I tried! Failed to open file
- #foo: no such file or directory
+say "Well, I tried! $!" if defined $!;
+#=> Well, I tried! Failed to open file foo: no such file or directory
+
## Now, what if we want more control over handling the exception?
## Unlike many other languages, in Perl 6, you put the `CATCH` block *within*
-## the block to `try`. Similar to how $_ was set when we 'disarmed' the
-## exception with orelse, we also use $_ in the CATCH block.
-## Note: ($! is only set *after* the `try` block)
-## By default, a `try` has a `CATCH` block that catches
-## any exception (`CATCH { default {} }`).
+## the block to `try`. Similar to how the `$_` variable was set when we
+## 'disarmed' the exception with `orelse`, we also use `$_` in the CATCH block.
+## Note: The `$!` variable is only set *after* the `try` block has caught an
+## exception. By default, a `try` block has a `CATCH` block of its own that
+## catches any exception (`CATCH { default {} }`).
-try { my $a = (0 %% 0); CATCH { say "Something happened: $_" } }
- #=> Something happened: Attempt to divide by zero using infix:<%%>
+try {
+ my $a = (0 %% 0);
+ CATCH {
+ say "Something happened: $_"
+ }
+}
+#=> Something happened: Attempt to divide by zero using infix:<%%>
+
+## You can redefine it using `when`s (and `default`) to handle the exceptions
+## you want to catch explicitly:
-## You can redefine it using `when`s (and `default`)
-## to handle the exceptions you want:
try {
open 'foo';
- CATCH { # In the `CATCH` block, the exception is set to $_
- when X::AdHoc { say "Error: $_" }
- #=>Error: Failed to open file /dir/foo: no such file or directory
-
- ## Any other exception will be re-raised, since we don't have a `default`
- ## Basically, if a `when` matches (or there's a `default`) marks the
- ## exception as
- ## "handled" so that it doesn't get re-thrown from the `CATCH`.
- ## You still can re-throw the exception (see below) by hand.
+ CATCH {
+ # In the `CATCH` block, the exception is set to the $_ variable.
+ when X::AdHoc {
+ say "Error: $_"
+ }
+ when X::Numeric::DivideByZero {
+ say "Error: $_";
+ }
+ ## Any other exceptions will be re-raised, since we don't have a `default`.
+ ## Basically, if a `when` matches (or there's a `default`), the
+ ## exception is marked as "handled" so as to prevent its re-throw
+ ## from the `CATCH` block. You still can re-throw the exception (see below)
+ ## by hand.
}
}
+#=>Error: Failed to open file /dir/foo: no such file or directory
## There are also some subtleties to exceptions. Some Perl 6 subs return a
-## `Failure`, which is a kind of "unthrown exception". They're not thrown until
-## you tried to look at their content, unless you call `.Bool`/`.defined` on
-## them - then they're handled.
+## `Failure`, which is a wrapper around an `Exception` object which is
+## "unthrown". They're not thrown until you try to use the variables containing
+## them unless you call `.Bool`/`.defined` on them - then they're handled.
## (the `.handled` method is `rw`, so you can mark it as `False` back yourself)
-##
## You can throw a `Failure` using `fail`. Note that if the pragma `use fatal`
## is on, `fail` will throw an exception (like `die`).
+
fail "foo"; # We're not trying to access the value, so no problem.
try {
- fail "foo";
- CATCH {
- default { say "It threw because we tried to get the fail's value!" }
+ fail "foo";
+ CATCH {
+ default {
+ say "It threw because we tried to get the fail's value!"
+ }
}
}
## There is also another kind of exception: Control exceptions.
-## Those are "good" exceptions, which happen when you change your program's
+## Those are "good" exceptions, which happen when you change your program's
## flow, using operators like `return`, `next` or `last`.
## You can "catch" those with `CONTROL` (not 100% working in Rakudo yet).
```
@@ -989,29 +1136,35 @@ try {
## Packages are important - especially as Perl is well-known for CPAN,
## the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network.
-## You can use a module (bring its declarations into scope) with `use`
+## You can use a module (bring its declarations into scope) with
+## the `use` keyword:
use JSON::Tiny; # if you installed Rakudo* or Panda, you'll have this module
say from-json('[1]').perl; #=> [1]
## You should not declare packages using the `package` keyword (unlike Perl 5).
## Instead, use `class Package::Name::Here;` to declare a class, or if you only
-## want to export variables/subs, you can use `module`.
+## want to export variables/subs, you can use `module` instead.
+
+module Hello::World { # bracketed form
+ # If `Hello` doesn't exist yet, it'll just be a "stub",
+ # that can be redeclared as something else later.
-module Hello::World { # Bracketed form
- # If `Hello` doesn't exist yet, it'll just be a "stub",
- # that can be redeclared as something else later.
- # ... declarations here ...
+ # ... declarations here ...
}
-unit module Parse::Text; # file-scoped form
-grammar Parse::Text::Grammar { # A grammar is a package, which you could `use`
-} # You will learn more about grammars in the regex section
+unit module Parse::Text; # file-scoped form which extends until
+ # the end of the file
+
+grammar Parse::Text::Grammar {
+ # A grammar is a package, which you could `use`.
+ # You will learn more about grammars in the regex section
+}
## As said before, any part of the six model is also a package.
## Since `JSON::Tiny` uses its own `JSON::Tiny::Actions` class, you can use it:
my $actions = JSON::Tiny::Actions.new;
-## We'll see how to export variables and subs in the next part:
+## We'll see how to export variables and subs in the next part.
```
## Declarators
@@ -1020,36 +1173,38 @@ my $actions = JSON::Tiny::Actions.new;
## In Perl 6, you get different behaviors based on how you declare a variable.
## You've already seen `my` and `has`, we'll now explore the others.
-## * `our` declarations happen at `INIT` time -- (see "Phasers" below)
-## It's like `my`, but it also creates a package variable.
-## (All packagish things (`class`, `role`, etc) are `our` by default)
-module Var::Increment {
- our $our-var = 1; # Note: you can't put a type constraint like Int on an
- my $my-var = 22; # `our` variable.
- our sub Inc {
-
- our sub available { # If you try to make inner `sub`s `our`...
- # Better know what you're doing (Don't !).
- say "Don't do that. Seriously. You'll get burned.";
- }
+## `our` - these declarations happen at `INIT` time -- (see "Phasers" below).
+## It's like `my`, but it also creates a package variable. All packagish
+## things such as `class`, `role`, etc. are `our` by default.
- my sub unavailable { # `my sub` is the default
- say "Can't access me from outside, I'm 'my'!";
- }
- say ++$our-var; # Increment the package variable and output its value
+module Var::Increment {
+ our $our-var = 1; # Note: `our`-declared variables cannot be typed.
+ my $my-var = 22;
+
+ our sub Inc {
+ our sub available { # If you try to make inner `sub`s `our`...
+ # ... Better know what you're doing (Don't !).
+ say "Don't do that. Seriously. You'll get burned.";
+ }
+
+ my sub unavailable { # `sub`s are `my`-declared by default
+ say "Can't access me from outside, I'm 'my'!";
+ }
+ say ++$our-var; # Increment the package variable and output its value
}
}
-say $Var::Increment::our-var; #=> 1 This works
-say $Var::Increment::my-var; #=> (Any) This will not work.
-Var::Increment::Inc; #=> 2
-Var::Increment::Inc; #=> 3 # Notice how the value of $our-var was
- # retained.
-Var::Increment::unavailable; #> Could not find symbol '&unavailable'
+say $Var::Increment::our-var; #=> 1, this works!
+say $Var::Increment::my-var; #=> (Any), this will not work!
+
+Var::Increment::Inc; #=> 2
+Var::Increment::Inc; #=> 3 , notice how the value of $our-var was
+ # retained.
+Var::Increment::unavailable; #=> Could not find symbol '&unavailable'
-## * `constant` (happens at `BEGIN` time)
-## You can use the `constant` keyword to declare a compile-time variable/symbol:
+## `constant` - these declarations happen at `BEGIN` time. You can use
+## the `constant` keyword to declare a compile-time variable/symbol:
constant Pi = 3.14;
constant $var = 1;
@@ -1057,12 +1212,12 @@ constant $var = 1;
constant why-not = 5, 15 ... *;
say why-not[^5]; #=> 5 15 25 35 45
-## * `state` (happens at run time, but only once)
-## State variables are only initialized one time
-## (they exist in other languages such as C as `static`)
+## `state` - these declarations happen at run time, but only once. State
+## variables are only initialized one time. In other languages such as C
+## they exist as `static` variables.
sub fixed-rand {
- state $val = rand;
- say $val;
+ state $val = rand;
+ say $val;
}
fixed-rand for ^10; # will print the same number 10 times
@@ -1070,40 +1225,42 @@ fixed-rand for ^10; # will print the same number 10 times
## If you declare a function with a `state` within a loop, it'll re-create the
## variable for each iteration of the loop. See:
for ^5 -> $a {
- sub foo {
- state $val = rand; # This will be a different value for every value of `$a`
- }
- for ^5 -> $b {
- say foo; # This will print the same value 5 times, but only 5.
- # Next iteration will re-run `rand`.
- }
+ sub foo {
+ state $val = rand; # This will be a different value for
+ # every value of `$a`
+ }
+ for ^5 -> $b {
+ say foo; # This will print the same value 5 times,
+ # but only 5. Next iteration will re-run `rand`.
+ }
}
```
## Phasers
```perl6
-## Phasers in Perl 6 are blocks that happen at determined points of time in your
-## program. They are called phasers because they mark a change in the phase
-## of a program. For example, when the program is compiled, a for loop runs,
-## you leave a block, or an exception gets thrown.
-## (`CATCH` is actually a phaser!)
-## Some of them can be used for their return values, some of them can't
-## (those that can have a "[*]" in the beginning of their explanation text).
-## Let's have a look !
-
-## * Compile-time phasers
+## Phasers in Perl 6 are blocks that happen at determined points of time in
+## your program. They are called phasers because they mark a change in the
+## phase of a program. For example, when the program is compiled, a for loop
+## runs, you leave a block, or an exception gets thrown (The `CATCH` block is
+## actually a phaser!). Some of them can be used for their return values,
+## some of them can't (those that can have a "[*]" in the beginning of their
+## explanation text). Let's have a look!
+
+## Compile-time phasers
BEGIN { say "[*] Runs at compile time, as soon as possible, only once" }
CHECK { say "[*] Runs at compile time, as late as possible, only once" }
-## * Run-time phasers
+## Run-time phasers
INIT { say "[*] Runs at run time, as soon as possible, only once" }
-END { say "Runs at run time, as late as possible, only once" }
+END { say "Runs at run time, as late as possible, only once" }
-## * Block phasers
+## Block phasers
ENTER { say "[*] Runs everytime you enter a block, repeats on loop blocks" }
-LEAVE { say "Runs everytime you leave a block, even when an exception
- happened. Repeats on loop blocks." }
+LEAVE {
+ say "Runs everytime you leave a block, even when an exception
+ happened. Repeats on loop blocks."
+}
PRE {
say "Asserts a precondition at every block entry,
@@ -1112,7 +1269,7 @@ PRE {
an exception of type X::Phaser::PrePost is thrown.";
}
-## example:
+## Example:
for 0..2 {
PRE { $_ > 1 } # This is going to blow up with "Precondition failed"
}
@@ -1123,83 +1280,86 @@ POST {
say "If this block doesn't return a truthy value,
an exception of type X::Phaser::PrePost is thrown, like PRE.";
}
+
for 0..2 {
POST { $_ < 2 } # This is going to blow up with "Postcondition failed"
}
-## * Block/exceptions phasers
+## Block/exceptions phasers
sub {
KEEP { say "Runs when you exit a block successfully
(without throwing an exception)" }
- UNDO { say "Runs when you exit a block unsuccessfully
+ UNDO { say "Runs when you exit a block unsuccessfully
(by throwing an exception)" }
}
-## * Loop phasers
+## Loop phasers
for ^5 {
FIRST { say "[*] The first time the loop is run, before ENTER" }
- NEXT { say "At loop continuation time, before LEAVE" }
- LAST { say "At loop termination time, after LEAVE" }
+ NEXT { say "At loop continuation time, before LEAVE" }
+ LAST { say "At loop termination time, after LEAVE" }
}
-## * Role/class phasers
+## Role/class phasers
COMPOSE { "When a role is composed into a class. /!\ NOT YET IMPLEMENTED" }
-## They allow for cute tricks or clever code ...:
+## They allow for cute tricks or clever code...:
say "This code took " ~ (time - CHECK time) ~ "s to compile";
## ... or clever organization:
sub do-db-stuff {
- $db.start-transaction; # start a new transaction
- KEEP $db.commit; # commit the transaction if all went well
- UNDO $db.rollback; # or rollback if all hell broke loose
+ $db.start-transaction; # start a new transaction
+ KEEP $db.commit; # commit the transaction if all went well
+ UNDO $db.rollback; # or rollback if all hell broke loose
}
```
## Statement prefixes
```perl6
-## Those act a bit like phasers: they affect the behavior of the following code.
-## Though, they run in-line with the executable code, so they're in lowercase.
-## (`try` and `start` are theoretically in that list, but explained elsewhere)
-## Note: all of these (except start) don't need explicit brackets `{` and `}`.
+## Those act a bit like phasers: they affect the behavior of the following
+## code. Though, they run in-line with the executable code, so they're in
+## lowercase. (`try` and `start` are theoretically in that list, but explained
+## elsewhere) Note: all of these (except start) don't need explicit curly
+## braces `{` and `}`.
-## - `do` (that you already saw) - runs a block or a statement as a term
-## You can't normally use a statement as a value (or "term"):
-##
-## my $value = if True { 1 } # `if` is a statement - parse error
-##
-## This works:
-my $a = do if True { 5 } # with `do`, `if` is now a term.
-
-## - `once` - Makes sure a piece of code only runs once
-for ^5 { once say 1 }; #=> 1
- # Only prints ... once.
-## Like `state`, they're cloned per-scope
-for ^5 { sub { once say 1 }() } #=> 1 1 1 1 1
- # Prints once per lexical scope
-
-## - `gather` - Co-routine thread
-## Gather allows you to `take` several values in an array,
-## much like `do`, but allows you to take any expression.
+## `do` - (which you already saw) runs a block or a statement as a term.
+## Normally you cannot use a statement as a value (or "term"). `do` helps us
+## do it.
+
+# my $value = if True { 1 } # this fails since `if` is a statement
+my $a = do if True { 5 } # with `do`, `if` is now a term returning a value
+
+## `once` - makes sure a piece of code only runs once.
+for ^5 {
+ once say 1
+}; #=> 1, only prints ... once
+
+## Similar to `state`, they're cloned per-scope.
+for ^5 {
+ sub { once say 1 }()
+}; #=> 1 1 1 1 1, prints once per lexical scope.
+
+## `gather` - co-routine thread. The `gather` constructs allows us to `take`
+## several values from an array/list, much like `do`.
say gather for ^5 {
- take $_ * 3 - 1;
- take $_ * 3 + 1;
-} #=> -1 1 2 4 5 7 8 10 11 13
+ take $_ * 3 - 1;
+ take $_ * 3 + 1;
+}
+#=> -1 1 2 4 5 7 8 10 11 13
+
say join ',', gather if False {
- take 1;
- take 2;
- take 3;
-} # Doesn't print anything.
+ take 1;
+ take 2;
+ take 3;
+}
+# Doesn't print anything.
-## - `eager` - Evaluate statement eagerly (forces eager context)
+## `eager` - evaluates a statement eagerly (forces eager context)
## Don't try this at home:
-##
-## eager 1..*; # this will probably hang for a while (and might crash ...).
-##
+# eager 1..*; # this will probably hang for a while (and might crash ...).
## But consider:
constant thrice = gather for ^3 { say take $_ }; # Doesn't print anything
-
## versus:
constant thrice = eager gather for ^3 { say take $_ }; #=> 0 1 2
```
@@ -1207,102 +1367,105 @@ constant thrice = eager gather for ^3 { say take $_ }; #=> 0 1 2
## Iterables
```perl6
-## Iterables are objects that can be iterated similar to the `for` construct
-## `flat`, flattens iterables:
-say (1, 10, (20, 10) ); #> (1 10 (20 10)) Notice how grouping is maintained
-say (1, 10, (20, 10) ).flat; #> (1 10 20 10) Now the iterable is flat
+## Iterables are objects that can be iterated over which are
+## are similar to the `for` construct.
-## - `lazy` - Defer actual evaluation until value is fetched
-## (forces lazy context)
+## `flat` - flattens iterables.
+say (1, 10, (20, 10) ); #=> (1 10 (20 10)), notice how neste lists are
+ # preserved
+say (1, 10, (20, 10) ).flat; #=> (1 10 20 10), now the iterable is flat
+
+## - `lazy` - defers actual evaluation until value is fetched by forcing
+## lazy context.
my @lazy-array = (1..100).lazy;
-say @lazy-array.is-lazy; #> True # Check for laziness with the `is-lazy` method.
-say @lazy-array; #> [...] List has not been iterated on!
+say @lazy-array.is-lazy; #=> True, check for laziness with the `is-lazy` method.
+say @lazy-array; #=> [...] List has not been iterated on!
my @lazy-array { .print }; # This works and will only do as much work as
# is needed.
-[//]: # ( TODO explain that gather/take and map are all lazy)
-## - `sink` - An `eager` that discards the results (forces sink context)
+
+# ( **TODO** explain that gather/take and map are all lazy)
+
+## `sink` - an `eager` that discards the results by forcing sink context.
constant nilthingie = sink for ^3 { .say } #=> 0 1 2
-say nilthingie.perl; #=> Nil
+say nilthingie.perl; #=> Nil
-## - `quietly` blocks will suppress warnings:
+## `quietly` - suppresses warnings in blocks.
quietly { warn 'This is a warning!' }; #=> No output
-## - `contend` - Attempts side effects under STM
-## Not yet implemented !
+## `contend` - attempts side effects under STM
+## Not yet implemented!
```
-## More operators thingies !
+## More operators thingies!
```perl6
-## Everybody loves operators ! Let's get more of them
+## Everybody loves operators! Let's get more of them.
## The precedence list can be found here:
## https://docs.perl6.org/language/operators#Operator_Precedence
## But first, we need a little explanation about associativity:
-## * Binary operators:
+## Binary operators:
$a ! $b ! $c; # with a left-associative `!`, this is `($a ! $b) ! $c`
$a ! $b ! $c; # with a right-associative `!`, this is `$a ! ($b ! $c)`
$a ! $b ! $c; # with a non-associative `!`, this is illegal
$a ! $b ! $c; # with a chain-associative `!`, this is `($a ! $b) and ($b ! $c)`
$a ! $b ! $c; # with a list-associative `!`, this is `infix:<>`
-## * Unary operators:
+## Unary operators:
!$a! # with left-associative `!`, this is `(!$a)!`
!$a! # with right-associative `!`, this is `!($a!)`
!$a! # with non-associative `!`, this is illegal
```
-### Create your own operators !
+### Create your own operators!
```perl6
-## Okay, you've been reading all of that, so I guess I should try
-## to show you something exciting.
-## I'll tell you a little secret (or not-so-secret):
+## Okay, you've been reading all of that, so you might want to try something
+## more exciting?! I'll tell you a little secret (or not-so-secret):
## In Perl 6, all operators are actually just funny-looking subroutines.
## You can declare an operator just like you declare a sub:
-sub prefix:<win>($winner) { # refer to the operator categories
- # (yes, it's the "words operator" `<>`)
- say "$winner Won !";
+# prefix refers to the operator categories (prefix, infix, postfix, etc).
+sub prefix:<win>( $winner ) {
+ say "$winner Won!";
}
-win "The King"; #=> The King Won !
- # (prefix is before)
+win "The King"; #=> The King Won!
+ # (prefix means 'before')
## you can still call the sub with its "full name":
-say prefix:<!>(True); #=> False
+say prefix:<!>(True); #=> False
+prefix:<win>("The Queen"); #=> The Queen Won!
-sub postfix:<!>(Int $n) {
- [*] 2..$n; # using the reduce meta-operator ... See below ;-) !
+sub postfix:<!>( Int $n ) {
+ [*] 2..$n; # using the reduce meta-operator... See below ;-)!
}
say 5!; #=> 120
- # Postfix operators (after) have to come *directly* after the term.
+ # Postfix operators ('after') have to come *directly* after the term.
# No whitespace. You can use parentheses to disambiguate, i.e. `(5!)!`
-
-sub infix:<times>(Int $n, Block $r) { # infix in the middle
- for ^$n {
- $r(); # You need the explicit parentheses to call the function in `$r`,
- # else you'd be referring at the variable itself, like with `&r`.
- }
+sub infix:<times>( Int $n, Block $r ) { # infix ('between')
+ for ^$n {
+ $r(); # You need the explicit parentheses to call the function in `$r`,
+ # else you'd be referring at the variable itself, like with `&r`.
+ }
}
3 times -> { say "hello" }; #=> hello
#=> hello
#=> hello
- # You're very recommended to put spaces
- # around your infix operator calls.
+## It's recommended to put spaces around your
+## infix operator calls.
## For circumfix and post-circumfix ones
-sub circumfix:<[ ]>(Int $n) {
- $n ** $n
+sub circumfix:<[ ]>( Int $n ) {
+ $n ** $n
}
say [5]; #=> 3125
- # circumfix is around. Again, no whitespace.
+ # circumfix means 'around'. Again, no whitespace.
-sub postcircumfix:<{ }>(Str $s, Int $idx) {
- ## post-circumfix is
- ## "after a term, around something"
- $s.substr($idx, 1);
+sub postcircumfix:<{ }>( Str $s, Int $idx ) {
+ ## post-circumfix is 'after a term, around something'
+ $s.substr($idx, 1);
}
say "abc"{1}; #=> b
# after the term `"abc"`, and around the index (1)
@@ -1312,47 +1475,47 @@ say "abc"{1}; #=> b
## (a simple named argument underneath):
%h{$key}:delete;
## equivalent to:
-postcircumfix:<{ }>(%h, $key, :delete); # (you can call operators like that)
+postcircumfix:<{ }>( %h, $key, :delete ); # (you can call operators like this)
-## It's *all* using the same building blocks!
-## Syntactic categories (prefix infix ...), named arguments (adverbs), ...,
-## - used to build the language - are available to you.
-## (you are, obviously, recommended against making an operator out of
-## *everything* -- with great power comes great responsibility)
+## It's *all* using the same building blocks! Syntactic categories
+## (prefix infix ...), named arguments (adverbs), ..., etc. used to build
+## the language - are available to you. Obviously, you're advised against
+## making an operator out of *everything* -- with great power comes great
+## responsibility.
```
-### Meta operators !
+### Meta operators!
```perl6
-## Oh boy, get ready. Get ready, because we're delving deep
-## into the rabbit's hole, and you probably won't want to go
-## back to other languages after reading that.
-## (I'm guessing you don't want to already at that point).
+## Oh boy, get ready!. Get ready, because we're delving deep into the rabbit's
+## hole, and you probably won't want to go back to other languages after
+## reading this. (I'm guessing you don't want to go back at this point but
+## let's continue, for the journey is long and enjoyable!).
+
## Meta-operators, as their name suggests, are *composed* operators.
-## Basically, they're operators that apply another operator.
+## Basically, they're operators that act on another operators.
+
+## The reduce meta-operator is a prefix meta-operator that takes a binary
+## function and one or many lists. If it doesn't get passed any argument,
+## it either returns a "default value" for this operator (a meaningless value)
+## or `Any` if there's none (examples below). Otherwise, it pops an element
+## from the list(s) one at a time, and applies the binary function to the last
+## result (or the list's first element) and the popped element.
-## * Reduce meta-operator
-## It's a prefix meta-operator that takes a binary function and
-## one or many lists. If it doesn't get passed any argument,
-## it either returns a "default value" for this operator
-## (a meaningless value) or `Any` if there's none (examples below).
-##
-## Otherwise, it pops an element from the list(s) one at a time, and applies
-## the binary function to the last result (or the list's first element)
-## and the popped element.
-##
## To sum a list, you could use the reduce meta-operator with `+`, i.e.:
-say [+] 1, 2, 3; #=> 6
-## equivalent to `(1+2)+3`
+say [+] 1, 2, 3; #=> 6, equivalent to (1+2)+3.
-say [*] 1..5; #=> 120
-## equivalent to `((((1*2)*3)*4)*5)`.
+## To multiply a list
+say [*] 1..5; #=> 120, equivalent to ((((1*2)*3)*4)*5).
## You can reduce with any operator, not just with mathematical ones.
-## For example, you could reduce with `//` to get
-## the first defined element of a list:
-say [//] Nil, Any, False, 1, 5; #=> False
- # (Falsey, but still defined)
+## For example, you could reduce with `//` to get first defined element
+## of a list:
+say [//] Nil, Any, False, 1, 5; #=> False
+ # (Falsey, but still defined)
+## Or with relational operators, i.e., `>` to check elements of a list
+## are ordered accordingly:
+say say [>] 234, 156, 6, 3, -20; #=> True
## Default value examples:
say [*] (); #=> 1
@@ -1365,15 +1528,14 @@ say [//]; #=> (Any)
sub add($a, $b) { $a + $b }
say [[&add]] 1, 2, 3; #=> 6
-## * Zip meta-operator
-## This one is an infix meta-operator that also can be used as a "normal"
-## operator. It takes an optional binary function (by default, it just creates
-## a pair), and will pop one value off of each array and call its binary
-## function on these until it runs out of elements. It returns an array with
-## all of these new elements.
-(1, 2) Z (3, 4); # ((1, 3), (2, 4)), since by default, the function
- # makes an array.
-1..3 Z+ 4..6; # (5, 7, 9), using the custom infix:<+> function
+## The zip meta-operator is an infix meta-operator that also can be used as a
+## "normal" operator. It takes an optional binary function (by default, it
+## just creates a pair), and will pop one value off of each array and call
+## its binary function on these until it runs out of elements. It returns an
+## array with all of these new elements.
+say (1, 2) Z (3, 4); #=> ((1, 3), (2, 4)), since by default the function
+ # makes an array.
+say 1..3 Z+ 4..6; #=> (5, 7, 9), using the custom infix:<+> function
## Since `Z` is list-associative (see the list above),
## you can use it on more than one list
@@ -1385,252 +1547,258 @@ say [[&add]] 1, 2, 3; #=> 6
## And to end the operator list:
-## * Sequence operator
## The sequence operator is one of Perl 6's most powerful features:
## it's composed of first, on the left, the list you want Perl 6 to deduce from
## (and might include a closure), and on the right, a value or the predicate
-## that says when to stop (or Whatever for a lazy infinite list).
-my @list = 1, 2, 3 ... 10; # basic deducing
-#my @list = 1, 3, 6 ... 10; # this dies because Perl 6 can't figure out the end
-my @list = 1, 2, 3 ...^ 10; # as with ranges, you can exclude the last element
- # (the iteration when the predicate matches).
-my @list = 1, 3, 9 ... * > 30; # you can use a predicate
- # (with the Whatever Star, here).
-my @list = 1, 3, 9 ... { $_ > 30 }; # (equivalent to the above)
-
-my @fib = 1, 1, *+* ... *; # lazy infinite list of fibonacci series,
- # computed using a closure!
+## that says when to stop (or a Whatever Star for a lazy infinite list).
+
+my @list = 1, 2, 3...10; # basic arithmetic sequence
+# my @list = 1, 3, 6...10; # this dies because Perl 6 can't figure out the end
+my @list = 1, 2, 3...^10; # as with ranges, you can exclude the last element
+ # (the iteration ends when the predicate matches).
+my @list = 1, 3, 9...* > 30; # you can use a predicate (with the Whatever Star).
+my @list = 1, 3, 9 ... { $_ > 30 }; # (equivalent to the above
+ # using a block here).
+
+my @fib = 1, 1, *+* ... *; # lazy infinite list of fibonacci sequence,
+ # computed using a closure!
my @fib = 1, 1, -> $a, $b { $a + $b } ... *; # (equivalent to the above)
-my @fib = 1, 1, { $^a + $^b } ... *; #(... also equivalent to the above)
+my @fib = 1, 1, { $^a + $^b } ... *; # (also equivalent to the above)
## $a and $b will always take the previous values, meaning here
-## they'll start with $a = 1 and $b = 1 (values we set by hand).
-## then $a = 1 and $b = 2 (result from previous $a+$b), and so on.
+## they'll start with $a = 1 and $b = 1 (values we set by hand),
+## then $a = 1 and $b = 2 (result from previous $a+$b), and so on.
say @fib[^10]; #=> 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55
# (using a range as the index)
-## Note : as for ranges, once reified, elements aren't re-calculated.
+## Note: as for ranges, once reified, elements aren't re-calculated.
## That's why `@primes[^100]` will take a long time the first time you print
-## it, then be instant.
+## it, then will be instateneous.
```
## Regular Expressions
```perl6
-## I'm sure a lot of you have been waiting for this one.
-## Well, now that you know a good deal of Perl 6 already, we can get started.
-## First off, you'll have to forget about "PCRE regexps" (perl-compatible
-## regexps).
+## I'm sure a lot of you have been waiting for this one. Well, now that you know
+## a good deal of Perl 6 already, we can get started. First off, you'll have to
+## forget about "PCRE regexps" (perl-compatible regexps).
##
-## IMPORTANT: Don't skip them because you know PCRE. They're different.
-## Some things are the same (like `?`, `+`, and `*`),
-## but sometimes the semantics change (`|`).
-## Make sure you read carefully, because you might trip over a new behavior.
+## IMPORTANT: Don't skip them because you know PCRE. They're different. Some
+## things are the same (like `?`, `+`, and `*`), but sometimes the semantics
+## change (`|`). Make sure you read carefully, because you might trip over a
+## new behavior.
##
## Perl 6 has many features related to RegExps. After all, Rakudo parses itself.
-## We're first going to look at the syntax itself,
-## then talk about grammars (PEG-like), differences between
-## `token`, `regex` and `rule` declarators, and some more.
-## Side note: you still have access to PCRE regexps using the `:P5` modifier.
-## (we won't be discussing this in this tutorial, however)
+## We're first going to look at the syntax itself, then talk about grammars
+## (PEG-like), differences between `token`, `regex` and `rule` declarators,
+## and some more. Side note: you still have access to PCRE regexps using the
+## `:P5` modifier which we won't be discussing this in this tutorial, though.
##
## In essence, Perl 6 natively implements PEG ("Parsing Expression Grammars").
## The pecking order for ambiguous parses is determined by a multi-level
-## tie-breaking test:
-## - Longest token matching. `foo\s+` beats `foo` (by 2 or more positions)
-## - Longest literal prefix. `food\w*` beats `foo\w*` (by 1)
+## tie-breaking test:
+## - Longest token matching: `foo\s+` beats `foo` (by 2 or more positions)
+## - Longest literal prefix: `food\w*` beats `foo\w*` (by 1)
## - Declaration from most-derived to less derived grammars
-## (grammars are actually classes)
+## (grammars are actually classes)
## - Earliest declaration wins
-say so 'a' ~~ /a/; #=> True
-say so 'a' ~~ / a /; #=> True # More readable with some spaces!
+say so 'a' ~~ /a/; #=> True
+say so 'a' ~~ / a /; #=> True, more readable with some spaces!
## In all our examples, we're going to use the smart-matching operator against
-## a regexp. We're converting the result using `so`, but in fact, it's
-## returning a `Match` object. They know how to respond to list indexing,
-## hash indexing, and return the matched string.
-## The results of the match are available as `$/` (implicitly lexically-scoped).
-## You can also use the capture variables which start at 0:
-## `$0`, `$1', `$2`...
+## a regexp. We're converting the result using `so` to a Boolean value because,
+## in fact, it's returning a `Match` object. They know how to respond to list
+## indexing, hash indexing, and return the matched string. The results of the
+## match are available in the `$/` variable (implicitly lexically-scoped). You
+## can also use the capture variables which start at 0: `$0`, `$1', `$2`...
##
-## You can also note that `~~` does not perform start/end checking
-## (meaning the regexp can be matched with just one char of the string),
-## we're going to explain later how you can do it.
-
-## In Perl 6, you can have any alphanumeric as a literal,
-## everything else has to be escaped, using a backslash or quotes.
-say so 'a|b' ~~ / a '|' b /; # `True`. Wouldn't mean the same if `|` wasn't
- # escaped
-say so 'a|b' ~~ / a \| b /; # `True`. Another way to escape it.
-
-## The whitespace in a regexp is actually not significant,
-## unless you use the `:s` (`:sigspace`, significant space) adverb.
-say so 'a b c' ~~ / a b c /; #> `False`. Space is not significant here
-say so 'a b c' ~~ /:s a b c /; #> `True`. We added the modifier `:s` here.
+## You can also note that `~~` does not perform start/end checking, meaning
+## the regexp can be matched with just one character of the string. We'll
+## explain later how you can do it.
+
+## In Perl 6, you can have any alphanumeric as a literal, everything else has
+## to be escaped by using a backslash or quotes.
+say so 'a|b' ~~ / a '|' b /; #=> `True`, it wouldn't mean the same thing if
+ # `|` wasn't escaped.
+say so 'a|b' ~~ / a \| b /; #=> `True`, another way to escape it.
+
+## The whitespace in a regexp is actually not significant, unless you use the
+## `:s` (`:sigspace`, significant space) adverb.
+say so 'a b c' ~~ / a b c /; #=> `False`, space is not significant here!
+say so 'a b c' ~~ /:s a b c /; #=> `True`, we added the modifier `:s` here.
+
## If we use only one space between strings in a regex, Perl 6 will warn us:
-say so 'a b c' ~~ / a b c /; #> 'False' #> Space is not significant here;
-## please use quotes or :s (:sigspace) modifier (or, to suppress this warning,
-## omit the space, or otherwise change the spacing)
-## To fix this and make the spaces less ambiguous, either use at least two
-## spaces between strings or use the `:s` adverb.
+say so 'a b c' ~~ / a b c /; #=> `False`, with warning about space
+say so 'a b c' ~~ / a b c /; #=> `False`
+
+## Please use quotes or :s (:sigspace) modifier (or, to suppress this warning,
+## omit the space, or otherwise change the spacing). To fix this and make the
+## spaces less ambiguous, either use at least two spaces between strings
+## or use the `:s` adverb.
-## As we saw before, we can embed the `:s` inside the slash delimiters, but we
+## As we saw before, we can embed the `:s` inside the slash delimiters, but we
## can also put it outside of them if we specify `m` for 'match':
-say so 'a b c' ~~ m:s/a b c/; #> `True`
-## By using `m` to specify 'match', we can also use delimiters other
-## than slashes:
-say so 'abc' ~~ m{a b c}; #> `True`
+say so 'a b c' ~~ m:s/a b c/; #=> `True`
+
+## By using `m` to specify 'match', we can also use delimiters other than
+## slashes:
+say so 'abc' ~~ m{a b c}; #=> `True`
+say so 'abc' ~~ m[a b c]; #=> `True`
+# m/.../ is equivalent to /.../
## Use the :i adverb to specify case insensitivity:
-say so 'ABC' ~~ m:i{a b c}; #> `True`
+say so 'ABC' ~~ m:i{a b c}; #=> `True`
-## It is, however, important as for how modifiers (that you're gonna see just
-## below) are applied ...
+## However, whitespace is important as for how modifiers are applied (
+## (which you'll see just below) ...
## Quantifying - `?`, `+`, `*` and `**`.
-## - `?` - 0 or 1
-so 'ac' ~~ / a b c /; # `False`
-so 'ac' ~~ / a b? c /; # `True`, the "b" matched 0 times.
-so 'abc' ~~ / a b? c /; # `True`, the "b" matched 1 time.
+## `?` - zero or one match
+so 'ac' ~~ / a b c /; #=> `False`
+so 'ac' ~~ / a b? c /; #=> `True`, the "b" matched 0 times.
+so 'abc' ~~ / a b? c /; #=> `True`, the "b" matched 1 time.
-## ... As you read just before, whitespace is important because it determines
-## which part of the regexp is the target of the modifier:
-so 'def' ~~ / a b c? /; # `False`. Only the `c` is optional
-so 'def' ~~ / a b? c /; # `False`. Whitespace is not significant
-so 'def' ~~ / 'abc'? /; # `True`. The whole "abc" group is optional.
+## ...As you read before, whitespace is important because it determines which
+## part of the regexp is the target of the modifier:
+so 'def' ~~ / a b c? /; #=> `False`, only the `c` is optional
+so 'def' ~~ / a b? c /; #=> `False`, whitespace is not significant
+so 'def' ~~ / 'abc'? /; #=> `True`, the whole "abc" group is optional
## Here (and below) the quantifier applies only to the `b`
-## - `+` - 1 or more
-so 'ac' ~~ / a b+ c /; # `False`; `+` wants at least one matching
-so 'abc' ~~ / a b+ c /; # `True`; one is enough
-so 'abbbbc' ~~ / a b+ c /; # `True`, matched 4 "b"s
-
-## - `*` - 0 or more
-so 'ac' ~~ / a b* c /; # `True`, they're all optional.
-so 'abc' ~~ / a b* c /; # `True`
-so 'abbbbc' ~~ / a b* c /; # `True`
-so 'aec' ~~ / a b* c /; # `False`. "b"(s) are optional, not replaceable.
-
-## - `**` - (Unbound) Quantifier
-## If you squint hard enough, you might understand
-## why exponentation is used for quantity.
-so 'abc' ~~ / a b**1 c /; # `True` (exactly one time)
-so 'abc' ~~ / a b**1..3 c /; # `True` (one to three times)
-so 'abbbc' ~~ / a b**1..3 c /; # `True`
-so 'abbbbbbc' ~~ / a b**1..3 c /; # `False` (too much)
-so 'abbbbbbc' ~~ / a b**3..* c /; # `True` (infinite ranges are okay)
-
-## - `<[]>` - Character classes
-## Character classes are the equivalent of PCRE's `[]` classes, but
-## they use a more perl6-ish syntax:
-say 'fooa' ~~ / f <[ o a ]>+ /; #=> 'fooa'
+## `+` - one or more matches
+so 'ac' ~~ / a b+ c /; #=> `False`, `+` wants at least one matching
+so 'abc' ~~ / a b+ c /; #=> `True`, one is enough
+so 'abbbbc' ~~ / a b+ c /; #=> `True`, matched 4 "b"s
+
+## `*` - zero or more matches
+so 'ac' ~~ / a b* c /; #=> `True`, they're all optional.
+so 'abc' ~~ / a b* c /; #=> `True`
+so 'abbbbc' ~~ / a b* c /; #=> `True`
+so 'aec' ~~ / a b* c /; #=> `False`. "b"(s) are optional, not replaceable.
+
+## `**` - (Unbound) Quantifier
+## If you squint hard enough, you might understand why exponentation is used
+## for quantity.
+so 'abc' ~~ / a b**1 c /; #=> `True`, (exactly one time)
+so 'abc' ~~ / a b**1..3 c /; #=> `True`, (one to three times)
+so 'abbbc' ~~ / a b**1..3 c /; #=> `True`
+so 'abbbbbbc' ~~ / a b**1..3 c /; #=> `False, (too much)
+so 'abbbbbbc' ~~ / a b**3..* c /; #=> `True`, (infinite ranges are okay)
+
+## `<[]>` - Character classes
+## Character classes are the equivalent of PCRE's `[]` classes, but they use a
+## more perl6-ish syntax:
+say 'fooa' ~~ / f <[ o a ]>+ /; #=> 'fooa'
## You can use ranges:
say 'aeiou' ~~ / a <[ e..w ]> /; #=> 'ae'
-## Just like in normal regexes, if you want to use a special character,
-## escape it (the last one is escaping a space)
+## Just like in normal regexes, if you want to use a special character, escape
+## it (the last one is escaping a space which would be equivalent to using
+## ' '):
say 'he-he !' ~~ / 'he-' <[ a..z \! \ ]> + /; #=> 'he-he !'
-## You'll get a warning if you put duplicate names
-## (which has the nice effect of catching the wrote quoting:)
-'he he' ~~ / <[ h e ' ' ]> /; # Warns "Repeated characters found in characters
- # class"
+## You'll get a warning if you put duplicate names (which has the nice effect
+## of catching the raw quoting):
+'he he' ~~ / <[ h e ' ' ]> /;
+# Warns "Repeated character (') unexpectedly found in character class"
-## You can also negate them ... (equivalent to `[^]` in PCRE)
-so 'foo' ~~ / <-[ f o ]> + /; # False
+## You can also negate character classes... (`<-[]>` equivalent to `[^]` in PCRE)
+so 'foo' ~~ / <-[ f o ]> + /; #=> False
-## ... and compose them: :
-so 'foo' ~~ / <[ a..z ] - [ f o ]> + /; # False (any letter except f and o)
-so 'foo' ~~ / <-[ a..z ] + [ f o ]> + /; # True (no letter except f and o)
-so 'foo!' ~~ / <-[ a..z ] + [ f o ]> + /; # True (the + doesn't replace the
+## ... and compose them:
+so 'foo' ~~ / <[ a..z ] - [ f o ]> + /; #=> `False`, (any letter except f and o)
+so 'foo' ~~ / <-[ a..z ] + [ f o ]> + /; #=> `True`, (no letter except f and o)
+so 'foo!' ~~ / <-[ a..z ] + [ f o ]> + /; #=> `True`, (the + doesn't replace the
# left part)
```
### Grouping and capturing
```perl6
-## Group: you can group parts of your regexp with `[]`.
-## These groups are *not* captured (like PCRE's `(?:)`).
-so 'abc' ~~ / a [ b ] c /; # `True`. The grouping does pretty much nothing
+## Group: you can group parts of your regexp with `[]`. Unlike PCRE's `(?:)`,
+## these groups are *not* captured.
+so 'abc' ~~ / a [ b ] c /; # `True`. The grouping does pretty much nothing
so 'foo012012bar' ~~ / foo [ '01' <[0..9]> ] + bar /;
-## The previous line returns `True`.
-## We match the "012" 1 or more time (the `+` was applied to the group).
+
+## The previous line returns `True`. The regex matches "012" 1 or more time
+## (achieved by the the `+` applied to the group).
## But this does not go far enough, because we can't actually get back what
## we matched.
-## Capture: We can actually *capture* the results of the regexp,
-## using parentheses.
+
+## Capture: The results of a regexp can be *captured* by using parentheses.
so 'fooABCABCbar' ~~ / foo ( 'A' <[A..Z]> 'C' ) + bar /; # `True`. (using `so`
# here, `$/` below)
## So, starting with the grouping explanations.
-## As we said before, our `Match` object is available as `$/`:
-say $/; # Will print some weird stuff (we'll explain) (or "Nil" if
- # nothing matched).
+## As we said before, our `Match` object is stored inside the `$/` variable:
+say $/; # Will either print some weird stuff or `Nil` if nothing matched.
## As we also said before, it has array indexing:
say $/[0]; #=> 「ABC」 「ABC」
- # These weird brackets are `Match` objects.
+ # These corner brackets are `Match` objects.
# Here, we have an array of these.
-say $0; # The same as above.
+say $0; # The same as above.
-## Our capture is `$0` because it's the first and only one capture in the
+## Our capture is `$0` because it's the first and only one capture in the
## regexp. You might be wondering why it's an array, and the answer is simple:
-## Some capture (indexed using `$0`, `$/[0]` or a named one) will be an array
-## IFF it can have more than one element
-## (so, with `*`, `+` and `**` (whatever the operands), but not with `?`).
+## Some captures (indexed using `$0`, `$/[0]` or a named one) will be an array
+## if and only if they can have more than one element. Thus any capture with
+## `*`, `+` and `**` (whatever the operands), but not with `?`.
## Let's use examples to see that:
## Note: We quoted A B C to demonstrate that the whitespace between them isn't
-## significant. If we want the whitespace to *be* significant there, we
+## significant. If we want the whitespace to *be* significant there, we
## can use the :sigspace modifier.
-so 'fooABCbar' ~~ / foo ( "A" "B" "C" )? bar /; # `True`
-say $/[0]; #=> 「ABC」
+say so 'fooABCbar' ~~ / foo ( "A" "B" "C" )? bar /; #=> `True`
+say $/[0]; #=> 「ABC」
say $0.WHAT; #=> (Match)
# There can't be more than one, so it's only a single match object.
-so 'foobar' ~~ / foo ( "A" "B" "C" )? bar /; #=> True
+say so 'foobar' ~~ / foo ( "A" "B" "C" )? bar /; #=> True
say $0.WHAT; #=> (Any)
# This capture did not match, so it's empty
-so 'foobar' ~~ / foo ( "A" "B" "C" ) ** 0..1 bar /; # `True`
+so 'foobar' ~~ / foo ( "A" "B" "C" ) ** 0..1 bar /; #=> `True`
say $0.WHAT; #=> (Array)
# A specific quantifier will always capture an Array,
- # may it be a range or a specific value (even 1).
+ # be a range or a specific value (even 1).
-## The captures are indexed per nesting. This means a group in a group will be
+## The captures are indexed per nesting. This means a group in a group will be
## nested under its parent group: `$/[0][0]`, for this code:
'hello-~-world' ~~ / ( 'hello' ( <[ \- \~ ]> + ) ) 'world' /;
-say $/[0].Str; #=> hello~
+say $/[0].Str; #=> hello~
say $/[0][0].Str; #=> ~
-## This stems from a very simple fact: `$/` does not contain strings, integers
-## or arrays, it only contains match objects. These contain the `.list`, `.hash`
-## and `.Str` methods. (but you can also just use `match<key>` for hash access
-## and `match[idx]` for array access)
+## This stems from a very simple fact: `$/` does not contain strings, integers
+## or arrays, it only contains Match objects. These contain the `.list`, `.hash`
+## and `.Str` methods but you can also just use `match<key>` for hash access
+## and `match[idx]` for array access.
say $/[0].list.perl; #=> (Match.new(...),).list
- # We can see it's a list of Match objects. Those contain
- # a bunch of infos: where the match started/ended,
- # the "ast" (see actions later), etc.
+ # We can see it's a list of Match objects. These contain
+ # a bunch of info: where the match started/ended,
+ # the "ast" (see actions later), etc.
# You'll see named capture below with grammars.
-## Alternatives - the `or` of regexps
+## Alternation - the `or` of regexps
## WARNING: They are DIFFERENT from PCRE regexps.
-so 'abc' ~~ / a [ b | y ] c /; # `True`. Either "b" or "y".
-so 'ayc' ~~ / a [ b | y ] c /; # `True`. Obviously enough ...
-
-## The difference between this `|` and the one you're used to is LTM.
-## LTM means "Longest Token Matching". This means that the engine will always
-## try to match as much as possible in the strng
-'foo' ~~ / fo | foo /; # `foo`, because it's longer.
-## To decide which part is the "longest", it first splits the regex in
+say so 'abc' ~~ / a [ b | y ] c /; #=> `True`. Either "b" or "y".
+say so 'ayc' ~~ / a [ b | y ] c /; #=> `True`. Obviously enough...
+
+## The difference between this `|` and the one you're used to is
+## LTM ("Longest Token Matching"). This means that the engine will always
+## try to match as much as possible in the string.
+say 'foo' ~~ / fo | foo /; #=> `foo`, instead of `fo`, because it's longer.
+
+## To decide which part is the "longest", it first splits the regex in
## two parts:
## The "declarative prefix" (the part that can be statically analyzed)
-## and the procedural parts.
-## Declarative prefixes include alternations (`|`), conjunctions (`&`),
-## sub-rule calls (not yet introduced), literals, characters classes and
+## and the procedural parts:
+## - The declarative prefixes include alternations (`|`), conjunctions (`&`),
+## sub-rule calls (not yet introduced), literals, characters classes and
## quantifiers.
-## The latter include everything else: back-references, code assertions,
-## and other things that can't traditionnaly be represented by normal regexps.
+## - The procedural part include everything else: back-references,
+## code assertions, and other things that can't traditionnaly be represented
+## by normal regexps.
##
## Then, all the alternatives are tried at once, and the longest wins.
## Examples:
@@ -1639,109 +1807,110 @@ so 'ayc' ~~ / a [ b | y ] c /; # `True`. Obviously enough ...
## DECLARATIVE (nested groups are not a problem)
/ \s* [ \w & b ] [ c | d ] /;
## However, closures and recursion (of named regexps) are procedural.
-## ... There are also more complicated rules, like specificity
-## (literals win over character classes)
+## There are also more complicated rules, like specificity (literals win over
+## character classes).
## Note: the first-matching `or` still exists, but is now spelled `||`
-'foo' ~~ / fo || foo /; # `fo` now.
+say 'foo' ~~ / fo || foo /; #=> `fo` now.
```
## Extra: the MAIN subroutine
```perl6
-## The `MAIN` subroutine is called when you run a Perl 6 file directly.
-## It's very powerful, because Perl 6 actually parses the arguments
-## and pass them as such to the sub. It also handles named argument (`--foo`)
-## and will even go as far as to autogenerate a `--help`
-sub MAIN($name) { say "Hello, $name !" }
+## The `MAIN` subroutine is called when you run a Perl 6 file directly. It's
+## very powerful, because Perl 6 actually parses the arguments and pass them
+## as such to the sub. It also handles named argument (`--foo`) and will even
+## go as far as to autogenerate a `--help` flag.
+sub MAIN($name) {
+ say "Hello, $name!";
+}
## This produces:
-## $ perl6 cli.pl
-## Usage:
-## t.pl <name>
+## $ perl6 cli.pl
+## Usage:
+## t.pl <name>
## And since it's a regular Perl 6 sub, you can have multi-dispatch:
## (using a "Bool" for the named argument so that we can do `--replace`
-## instead of `--replace=1`)
+## instead of `--replace=1`. The presence of `--replace` indicates truthness
+## while its absence falseness).
+
subset File of Str where *.IO.d; # convert to IO object to check the file exists
multi MAIN('add', $key, $value, Bool :$replace) { ... }
multi MAIN('remove', $key) { ... }
multi MAIN('import', File, Str :$as) { ... } # omitting parameter name
+
## This produces:
-## $ perl6 cli.pl
-## Usage:
-## t.pl [--replace] add <key> <value>
-## t.pl remove <key>
-## t.pl [--as=<Str>] import (File)
-## As you can see, this is *very* powerful.
-## It even went as far as to show inline the constants.
-## (the type is only displayed if the argument is `$`/is named)
+## $ perl6 cli.pl
+## Usage:
+## cli.p6 [--replace] add <key> <value>
+## cli.p6 remove <key>
+## cli.p6 [--as=<Str>] import <File>
+
+## As you can see, this is *very* powerful. It even went as far as to show inline
+## the constants (the type is only displayed if the argument is `$`/is named).
```
## APPENDIX A:
### List of things
```perl6
-## It's considered by now you know the Perl6 basics.
-## This section is just here to list some common operations,
-## but which are not in the "main part" of the tutorial to bloat it up
+## It's assumed by now you know the Perl6 basics. This section is just here to
+## list some common operations, but which are not in the "main part" of the
+## tutorial to avoid bloating it up.
## Operators
-
-## * Sort comparison
-## They return one value of the `Order` enum : `Less`, `Same` and `More`
-## (which numerify to -1, 0 or +1).
-1 <=> 4; # sort comparison for numerics
-'a' leg 'b'; # sort comparison for string
-$obj eqv $obj2; # sort comparison using eqv semantics
-
-## * Generic ordering
-3 before 4; # True
-'b' after 'a'; # True
-
-## * Short-circuit default operator
-## Like `or` and `||`, but instead returns the first *defined* value :
-say Any // Nil // 0 // 5; #=> 0
-
-## * Short-circuit exclusive or (XOR)
-## Returns `True` if one (and only one) of its arguments is true
-say True ^^ False; #=> True
-## * Flip Flop
-## The flip flop operators (`ff` and `fff`, equivalent to P5's `..`/`...`).
-## are operators that take two predicates to test:
-## They are `False` until their left side returns `True`, then are `True` until
-## their right side returns `True`.
-## Like for ranges, you can exclude the iteration when it became `True`/`False`
-## by using `^` on either side.
-## Let's start with an example :
+## Sort comparison - they return one value of the `Order` enum: `Less`, `Same`
+## and `More` (which numerify to -1, 0 or +1 respectively).
+1 <=> 4; # sort comparison for numerics
+'a' leg 'b'; # sort comparison for string
+$obj eqv $obj2; # sort comparison using eqv semantics
+
+## Generic ordering
+3 before 4; # True
+'b' after 'a'; # True
+
+## Short-circuit default operator - similar to `or` and `||`, but instead
+## returns the first *defined* value:
+say Any // Nil // 0 // 5; #=> 0
+
+## Short-circuit exclusive or (XOR) - returns `True` if one (and only one) of
+## its arguments is true
+say True ^^ False; #=> True
+
+## Flip flops - these operators (`ff` and `fff`, equivalent to P5's `..`
+## and `...`) are operators that take two predicates to test: They are `False`
+## until their left side returns `True`, then are `True` until their right
+## side returns `True`. Similar to ranges, you can exclude the iteration when
+## it become `True`/`False` by using `^` on either side. Let's start with an
+## example :
for <well met young hero we shall meet later> {
- # by default, `ff`/`fff` smart-match (`~~`) against `$_`:
- if 'met' ^ff 'meet' { # Won't enter the if for "met"
- # (explained in details below).
- .say
- }
+ # by default, `ff`/`fff` smart-match (`~~`) against `$_`:
+ if 'met' ^ff 'meet' { # Won't enter the if for "met"
+ .say # (explained in details below).
+ }
- if rand == 0 ff rand == 1 { # compare variables other than `$_`
- say "This ... probably will never run ...";
- }
+ if rand == 0 ff rand == 1 { # compare variables other than `$_`
+ say "This ... probably will never run ...";
+ }
}
-## This will print "young hero we shall meet" (excluding "met"):
-## the flip-flop will start returning `True` when it first encounters "met"
-## (but will still return `False` for "met" itself, due to the leading `^`
-## on `ff`), until it sees "meet", which is when it'll start returning `False`.
-
-## The difference between `ff` (awk-style) and `fff` (sed-style) is that
-## `ff` will test its right side right when its left side changes to `True`,
-## and can get back to `False` right away
-## (*except* it'll be `True` for the iteration that matched) -
-## While `fff` will wait for the next iteration to
-## try its right side, once its left side changed:
+
+## This will print "young hero we shall meet" (excluding "met"): the flip-flop
+## will start returning `True` when it first encounters "met" (but will still
+## return `False` for "met" itself, due to the leading `^` on `ff`), until it
+## sees "meet", which is when it'll start returning `False`.
+
+## The difference between `ff` (awk-style) and `fff` (sed-style) is that `ff`
+## will test its right side right when its left side changes to `True`, and can
+## get back to `False` right away (*except* it'll be `True` for the iteration
+## that matched) while `fff` will wait for the next iteration to try its right
+## side, once its left side changed:
.say if 'B' ff 'B' for <A B C B A>; #=> B B
# because the right-hand-side was tested
# directly (and returned `True`).
- # "B"s are printed since it matched that
- # time (it just went back to `False`
+ # "B"s are printed since it matched that
+ # time (it just went back to `False`
# right away).
.say if 'B' fff 'B' for <A B C B A>; #=> B C B
# The right-hand-side wasn't tested until
@@ -1750,50 +1919,49 @@ for <well met young hero we shall meet later> {
## A flip-flop can change state as many times as needed:
for <test start print it stop not printing start print again stop not anymore> {
- .say if $_ eq 'start' ^ff^ $_ eq 'stop'; # exclude both "start" and "stop",
- #=> "print it print again"
+ .say if $_ eq 'start' ^ff^ $_ eq 'stop'; # exclude both "start" and "stop",
+ #=> "print it print again"
}
-## You might also use a Whatever Star,
-## which is equivalent to `True` for the left side or `False` for the right:
+## You might also use a Whatever Star, which is equivalent to `True` for the
+## left side or `False` for the right:
for (1, 3, 60, 3, 40, 60) { # Note: the parenthesis are superfluous here
# (sometimes called "superstitious parentheses")
- .say if $_ > 50 ff *; # Once the flip-flop reaches a number greater than 50,
- # it'll never go back to `False`
- #=> 60 3 40 60
+ .say if $_ > 50 ff *; # Once the flip-flop reaches a number greater
+ # than 50, it'll never go back to `False`
+ #=> 60 3 40 60
}
-## You can also use this property to create an `If`
-## that'll not go through the first time :
+## You can also use this property to create an `if` that'll not go through the
+## first time:
for <a b c> {
- .say if * ^ff *; # the flip-flop is `True` and never goes back to `False`,
- # but the `^` makes it *not run* on the first iteration
- #=> b c
+ .say if * ^ff *; # the flip-flop is `True` and never goes back to `False`,
+ # but the `^` makes it *not run* on the first iteration
+ #=> b c
}
-
-## - `===` is value identity and uses `.WHICH` on the objects to compare them
-## - `=:=` is container identity and uses `VAR()` on the objects to compare them
-
+## The `===` operator is the value identity operator and uses `.WHICH` on the
+## objects to compare them while `=:=` is the container identity operator
+## and uses `VAR()` on the objects to compare them.
```
If you want to go further, you can:
- Read the [Perl 6 Docs](https://docs.perl6.org/). This is a great
- resource on Perl6. If you are looking for something, use the search bar.
+ resource on Perl6. If you are looking for something, use the search bar.
This will give you a dropdown menu of all the pages referencing your search
- term (Much better than using Google to find Perl 6 documents!)
+ term (Much better than using Google to find Perl 6 documents!).
- Read the [Perl 6 Advent Calendar](http://perl6advent.wordpress.com/). This
- is a great source of Perl 6 snippets and explanations. If the docs don't
+ is a great source of Perl 6 snippets and explanations. If the docs don't
describe something well enough, you may find more detailed information here.
This information may be a bit older but there are many great examples and
- explanations. Posts stopped at the end of 2015 when the language was declared
+ explanations. Posts stopped at the end of 2015 when the language was declared
stable and Perl 6.c was released.
- - Come along on `#perl6` at `irc.freenode.net`. The folks here are
+ - Come along on `#perl6` at `irc.freenode.net`. The folks here are
always helpful.
- - Check the [source of Perl 6's functions and
- classes](https://github.com/rakudo/rakudo/tree/nom/src/core). Rakudo is
+ - Check the [source of Perl 6's functions and
+ classes](https://github.com/rakudo/rakudo/tree/nom/src/core). Rakudo is
mainly written in Perl 6 (with a lot of NQP, "Not Quite Perl", a Perl 6 subset
easier to implement and optimize).
- - Read [the language design documents](http://design.perl6.org). They explain
+ - Read [the language design documents](http://design.perl6.org). They explain
P6 from an implementor point-of-view, but it's still very interesting.