Hi there,

Corinna?

Did you just ask that? Well just to give some background, it was the project to add a new object system to the Perl core led by Curtis Poe. I would highly recommend you checkout this repository if you are completely new to Corinna. And if you still have time to read more then you should read this blog post by the man himself, Curtis Poe. Those who are well informed and updated, might ask why am I talking about it now since it is already in core? Well, many have got their hand dirty with the new OO system and shared their experiences. Overall response is, we loved it but we want more. I am pretty confident in the next production release we would have more features added to it. The one, I am personally looking forward to, is to be able to create role using new OO syntax. Well again, I haven't answered the question, why talking about it now? Last Thursday, I went to office (day job) to attend company meeting. I only go when it is special occassion otherwise I work from home. This time, it was giving farewell to our boss and best friend. After we were done with speech and celebration, I was just looking for something to read and I came across this blog post by Dave Cross. I was completely blown away the way he articulated his experience with the new OO system. It is not easy to do so, as if you are not carefull then it might come across as negative. I am a big fan of his writing skill, be it his books or his blog posts. Coming back to his recent post, he mentioned few names (I don't want to repeat here and spoil your experience) and how they helped him deal with the issues he discussed in the post. I really want you all to take your own sweet time and read this thoroughly. I am sure, you will love it too.

Are you lazy programmer?

Please don't get me wrong, I don't mean in derogatory way. We, as a programmer, always look for getting things done quick. With experience in hand, you do get your way most of the time. Olaf Alders recently shared a very engaging blost post. In the post he is talking about his toy, lazy. I liked the name, short and precise. This tool is definitely going into my toolbox as I find it very handy and easy to use. If you ever had trouble with dependency when running a script then this is your friend.

Let me share a funny story about my early days. I started as a Visual Basic programmer. Then few years after playing with it, I decided to make a move in the year 1999. I was given two choices, Perl and Java. The company offered me to learn the language on the job. I picked Perl without knowing anything about it and here I am editing weekly newsletter specially for Perl fans. I didn't ditch Java completely to be honest. I keep playing with it as and when I got time. With the project like The Weekly Challenge that I have been running successfully for over 5 years helped me keep the passion alive. A friend of mine shared this fun project, PerlOnJava. Just to give you an overview, it is a Perl compiler. It compiles Perl into Java bytecode and runs it.

What's new on CPAN?

Thank you, Mathew Korica for keeping the tradition alive. It gives an insight what is happening on CPAN. It doesn't matter whether you have your own distributions or you use others, it is always fun to see what is new added on. It also gives you an overview as bonus. If you never uploaded anything to CPAN then please do come up with something usefull and push it. And if you are lucky, it might end up in the monthly report. If we are talking about CPAN then we can't ignore MetaCPAN. It is one stop place for all Perl programmers. I have seen it's growth over the years with added features and tools. Thanks to the entire team behind the project. Also thanks to the sponsor, OpenCage, for the support. Someone shared the blog post: Why We Sponsor MetaCPAN: OpenCage. It is pleasure to see how Perl is helping such a big project. It is worth reading, in my humble opinion.

In the less than two months, we are going to have London Perl & Raku Workshop 2024. I am so happy to hear that we are now 90% full on two tracks. The organiser is now planning to add a third track. If you are planning to attend the much awaited event then I would suggest you register asap. This would help the organisers manage the event better. If you or your company using Perl then why not consider sponsoring the event. Talking about conference, I would like to mention the YAPC::Hakodate 2024. This is the second event in the year 2024. I wish we had at least one in Europe. Before the pandemic, it used to be an annual event. Last time, YAPC::Europe happened was in Riga in the year 2019. It was decided at the event that in 2020 we would meet in Amsterdam. Unfortunately it didn't happen, so sad.

Please do take extra care of yourself and your loved one. Enjoy rest of the newsletter.

Mohammad Sajid Anwar