Editing Perl (section)

== History ==

=== Early versions ===

[[Larry Wall]] began work on Perl in 1987, while employed as a programmer at [[Unisys]];<ref name="programmingperl2"/> he released version 1.0 on December 18, 1987.<ref name="perltimeline"/><ref name="long">{{Cite magazine |last=Long |first=Tony |title=Dec. 18, 1987: Perl Simplifies the Labyrinth That Is Programming Language |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2007/12/dec-18-1987-perl-simplifies-the-labyrinth-that-is-programming-language/ |access-date=2023-02-14 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref> Wall based early ''Perl'' on some methods existing languages used for text manipulation.<ref name="long"/>

Perl 2, released in June 1988,<ref name="Kalita ">{{Cite book |last=Kalita |first=Jugal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aMuuTttVDcIC |title=On Perl: Perl for Students and Professionals |date=December 2003 |publisher=Universal-Publishers |isbn=978-1-58112-550-4 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Perl Culture |url=https://docstore.mik.ua/orelly/perl/prog3/ch27_01.htm |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=docstore.mik.ua |language=en-US}}</ref> featured a better regular expression engine. Perl 3, released in October 1989,<ref name="Kalita "/> added support for [[binary data]] streams.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Holloway |first=Ruth |title=Perl turns 30 and its community continues to thrive |url=https://opensource.com/article/17/10/perl-turns-30 |access-date=2023-06-23 |website=Opensource.com |language=en}}</ref>

=== 1990s ===
{{Main|Perl 5 version history}}

Originally, the only documentation for Perl was a single lengthy [[man page]]. In 1991, ''Programming Perl'', known to many Perl programmers as the "Camel Book" because of its cover, was published and became the ''de facto'' reference for the language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Programming Perl, 3rd Edition [Book] |url=https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/programming-perl-3rd/0596000278/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=www.oreilly.com |language=en}}</ref> At the same time, the Perl version number was bumped to 4, not to mark a major change in the language but to identify the version that was well documented by the book.<ref>{{Cite web |title=perlhist - the Perl history records - Perldoc Browser |url=https://perldoc.perl.org/perlhist |access-date=2023-07-28 |website=perldoc.perl.org}}</ref> Perl 4 was released in March 1991.<ref name="Kalita"/>

Perl 4 went through a series of [[maintenance release]]s, culminating in Perl 4.036 in 1993, whereupon Wall abandoned Perl 4 to begin work on Perl 5. Initial design of Perl 5 continued into 1994. The ''perl5-porters'' [[mailing list]] was established in May 1994 to coordinate work on porting Perl 5 to different platforms. It remains the primary forum for development, maintenance, and porting of Perl 5.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/ |title=perl.perl5.porters archive |access-date=2011-01-13 |publisher=perl.org |archive-date=May 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501081803/http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Perl 5.000 was released on October 17, 1994.<ref name="perlhist">{{Cite web |url=http://perldoc.perl.org/perlhist.html |title=perlhist: the Perl history records |access-date=2011-01-21 |work=Perl 5 version 12.2 documentation |publisher=perldoc.perl.org |archive-date=January 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113030100/http://perldoc.perl.org/perlhist.html |url-status=live}}</ref> It was a nearly complete rewrite of the [[interpreter (computing)|interpreter]], and it added many new features to the language, including [[Object (computer science)|objects]], [[Reference (computer science)|references]], [[Local variable|lexical (my) variables]], and [[Modular programming|modules]]. Importantly, modules provided a mechanism for extending the language without modifying the interpreter. This allowed the core interpreter to stabilize, even as it enabled ordinary Perl programmers to add new language features. Perl 5 has been in active development since then.

Perl 5.001 was released on March 13, 1995. Perl 5.002 was released on February 29, 1996 with the new prototypes feature. This allowed module authors to make [[subroutine]]s that behaved like Perl [[Shell builtin|builtins]]. Perl 5.003 was released June 25, 1996, as a security release.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Perl: Definition, History, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/Perl |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=Britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

One of the most important events in Perl 5 history took place outside of the language proper and was a consequence of its module support. On October 26, 1995, the [[CPAN|Comprehensive Perl Archive Network]] (CPAN) was established as a [[Software repository|repository]] for the Perl language and [[Perl module]]s; {{as of|December 2022|lc=y}}, it carries over 211,850 modules in 43,865 distributions, written by more than 14,324 authors, and is mirrored worldwide at more than 245 locations.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cpan.org/ |title=CPAN |access-date=2022-12-19 |publisher=[[CPAN]] |archive-date=October 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003040107/https://www.cpan.org/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Perl 5.004 was released on May 15, 1997, and included, among other things, the UNIVERSAL package, giving Perl a base object from which all [[Class (computer programming)|classes]] were automatically derived and the ability to require versions of modules. Another significant development was the inclusion of the [[CGI.pm]] module,<ref name="5004delta">{{Cite web |url=http://perldoc.perl.org/perl5004delta.html |title=perl5004delta – what's new for perl5.004 |access-date=2011-01-08 |work=Perl 5 version 12.2 documentation |publisher=perldoc.perl.org |archive-date=February 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227200616/http://perldoc.perl.org/perl5004delta.html |url-status=live}}</ref> which contributed to Perl's popularity as a [[Common Gateway Interface|CGI scripting language]].<ref name="patwardhan02">{{Cite book |last1=Patwardhan |first1=Nathan |last2=Siever |first2=Ellen |last3=Spainhour |first3=Stephen |title=Perl in a Nutshell, Second Edition |publisher=[[O'Reilly Media]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-596-00241-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/perlinnutshell00patw}}</ref>

Perl 5.004 added support for [[Microsoft Windows]], [[Plan 9 from Bell Labs|Plan 9]], [[QNX]], and [[AmigaOS]].<ref name="5004delta"/>

Perl 5.005 was released on July 22, 1998. This release included several enhancements to the [[Regular expression|regex]] engine, new hooks into the backend through the <code>B::*</code> modules, the <code>qr//</code> regex quote operator, a large selection of other new core modules, and added support for several more operating systems, including [[BeOS]].<ref name="5005delta">{{Cite web |url=http://perldoc.perl.org/perl5005delta.html |title=perl5005delta - what's new for perl5.005 |access-date=2011-01-21 |work=Perl 5 version 12.2 documentation |publisher=perldoc.perl.org |archive-date=February 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203100249/http://perldoc.perl.org/perl5005delta.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

===2000–2020===
{| class="wikitable floatright"
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! Major version<ref name="perlhist"/>
! Latest update<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cpan.org/src/README.html |title=Perl Source |publisher=cpan.org |access-date=2023-11-26}}</ref>
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| {{Version|o|5.4}}
| 1999-04-29
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| {{Version|o|5.5}}
| 2004-02-23
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| {{Version|o|5.6}}
| 2003-11-15
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| {{Version|o|5.8}}
| 2008-12-14
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| {{Version|o|5.10}}
| 2009-08-22
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| {{Version|o|5.12}}
| 2012-11-10
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| {{Version|o|5.14}}
| 2013-03-10
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| {{Version|o|5.16}}
| 2013-03-11
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| {{Version|o|5.18}}
| 2014-10-01
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| {{Version|o|5.20}}
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| {{Version|o|5.22}}
| 2017-07-15
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| {{Version|o|5.24}}
| 2018-04-14
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| {{Version|o|5.26}}
| 2018-11-29
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| {{Version|o|5.28}}
| 2020-06-01
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| {{Version|o|5.30}}
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| {{Version|o|5.32}}
| 2021-01-23
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| {{Version|o|5.34}}
| 2023-11-29
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| {{Version|o|5.36}}
| 2023-11-29
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|}
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Perl 5.6 was released on March 22, 2000. Major changes included [[64-bit computing|64-bit]] support, [[Unicode]] string representation, support for files over 2 GiB, and the "our" keyword.<ref name="56delta">{{cite web |url=http://perldoc.perl.org/perl56delta.html |title=perl56delta - what's new for perl v5.6.0 |access-date=2011-01-21 |work=Perl 5 version 12.2 documentation |publisher=perldoc.perl.org |archive-date=February 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202135358/http://perldoc.perl.org/perl56delta.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="561delta">{{cite web |url=http://perldoc.perl.org/perl561delta.html |title=perl56delta - what's new for perl v5.6.x |access-date=2011-01-21 |work=Perl 5 version 12.2 documentation |publisher=perldoc.perl.org |archive-date=November 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101118101544/http://perldoc.perl.org/perl561delta.html |url-status=live}}</ref> When developing Perl 5.6, the decision was made to switch the [[software versioning|versioning]] scheme to one more similar to other open source projects; after 5.005_63, the next version became 5.5.640, with plans for development versions to have odd numbers and stable versions to have even numbers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Perl {{!}} Definition, History, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/Perl |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

In 2000, Wall put forth a call for suggestions for a new version of Perl from the community. The process resulted in 361 RFC ([[Request for Comments]]) documents that were to be used in guiding development of Perl 6. In 2001,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dev.perl.org/perl6/doc/design/apo/A01.html |title=Apocalypse 1: The Ugly, the Bad, and the Good |access-date=2011-01-08 |last=Wall |first=Larry |archive-date=November 23, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123182201/http://dev.perl.org/perl6/doc/design/apo/A01.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> work began on the "Apocalypses" for Perl 6, a series of documents meant to summarize the change requests and present the design of the next generation of Perl. They were presented as a digest of the RFCs, rather than a formal document. At this time, Perl 6 existed only as a description of a language.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Perl 5.8 was first released on July 18, 2002, and further 5.X versions have been released approximately yearly since then. Perl 5.8 improved Unicode support, added a new I/O implementation, added a new thread implementation, improved numeric accuracy, and added several new modules.<ref name="perl58delta">{{cite web |url=http://perldoc.perl.org/perl58delta.html |title=perl58delta - what is new for perl v5.8.0 |access-date=2011-01-21 |work=Perl 5 version 12.2 documentation |publisher=perldoc.perl.org |archive-date=November 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121023149/http://perldoc.perl.org/perl58delta.html |url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2013, this version was still the most popular Perl version and was used by [[Red Hat]] [[Linux]] 5, [[SUSE Linux]] 10, [[Oracle Solaris|Solaris]] 10, [[HP-UX]] 11.31, and [[IBM AIX|AIX]] 5.

In 2004, work began on the "Synopses" – documents that originally summarized the Apocalypses, but which became the specification for the Perl 6 language. In February 2005, [[Audrey Tang]] began work on [[Pugs (compiler)|Pugs]], a Perl 6 interpreter written in [[Haskell]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2005/03/03/pugs_interview.html |title=A Plan for Pugs |date=2005-03-03 |publisher=[[O'Reilly Media]] |access-date=2011-01-27 |archive-date=September 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908200150/http://www.perl.com/pub/2005/03/03/pugs_interview.html |url-status=live}}</ref> This was the first concerted effort toward making Perl 6 a reality. This effort stalled in 2006.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=835936 |title=Re: How to Implement Perl 6 in Ten Years |access-date=2011-01-03 |last=Tang |first=Audrey |date=2010-04-21 |publisher=[[PerlMonks]] |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511190417/http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=835936 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Perl On New Internal Engine (PONIE) project existed from 2003 until 2006. It was to be a bridge between Perl 5 and 6, and an effort to rewrite the Perl 5 interpreter to run on the Perl 6 [[Parrot virtual machine]]. The goal was to ensure the future of the millions of lines of Perl 5 code at thousands of companies around the world.<ref>{{citation|last1=Broadwell|first1=Geoff|date=August 8, 2005<!-- 8:52PM -->|title=OSCON 4.4: Inside Ponie, the Bridge from Perl 5 to Perl 6|url=http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2005/08/oscon_44_inside_ponie_the_brid.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314013450/http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2005/08/oscon_44_inside_ponie_the_brid.html|publisher=O'Reilly ONLamp Blog|access-date=June 27, 2016|archive-date=March 14, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> The PONIE project ended in 2006 and is no longer being actively developed. Some of the improvements made to the Perl 5 interpreter as part of PONIE were folded into that project.<ref>{{citation|last1=Vincent|first1=Jesse|author1-link=Jesse Vincent|title=Ponie has been put out to pasture|date=August 23, 2006<!-- 10:40 PM -->|url=http://news.perlfoundation.org/2006/08/ponie_has_been_put_out_to_past.html|df=mdy-all|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627091007/http://news.perlfoundation.org/2006/08/ponie_has_been_put_out_to_past.html|publisher=The Perl Foundation|access-date=January 15, 2019|archive-date=June 27, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On December 18, 2007, the 20th anniversary of Perl 1.0, Perl 5.10.0 was released. Perl 5.10.0 included notable new features, which brought it closer to Perl 6. These included a [[switch statement]] (called "given"/"when"), regular expressions updates, and the ''smart match operator'' (~~).<ref name="5100delta">{{cite web |url=http://perldoc.perl.org/perl5100delta.html |title=perl5100delta - what is new for perl 5.10.0 |access-date=2011-01-08 |work=Perl 5 version 12.2 documentation |publisher=perldoc.perl.org |archive-date=December 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221024004/http://perldoc.perl.org/perl5100delta.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="perlsyn-smart">{{cite web |url=http://perldoc.perl.org/perlsyn.html#Smart-matching-in-detail |title=perlsyn - Perl syntax |access-date=2011-01-21 |work=Perl 5 version 12.2 documentation |publisher=perldoc.perl.org |archive-date=August 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826100652/http://perldoc.perl.org/perlsyn.html#Smart-matching-in-detail |url-status=live}}</ref>
Around this same time, development began in earnest on another implementation of Perl 6 known as [[Rakudo]] Perl, developed in tandem with the [[Parrot virtual machine]]. As of November 2009, Rakudo Perl has had regular monthly releases and now is the most complete implementation of Perl 6.

A major change in the development process of Perl 5 occurred with Perl 5.11; the development community has switched to a monthly release cycle of development releases, with a yearly schedule of stable releases. By that plan, bugfix point releases will follow the stable releases every three months.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}

On April 12, 2010, Perl 5.12.0 was released. Notable core enhancements include new <code>package NAME VERSION</code> syntax, the [[Ellipsis (computer programming)#yadayada|yada yada operator]] (intended to mark placeholder code that is not yet implemented), implicit {{Not a typo|strictures}}, full [[Y2038]] compliance, regex conversion overloading, [[DTrace]] support, and [[Unicode]] 5.2.<ref name="5120delta">{{cite web |url=http://perldoc.perl.org/perl5120delta.html |title=perl5120delta - what is new for perl v5.12.0 |access-date=2011-01-08 |work=Perl 5 version 12.2 documentation |publisher=perldoc.perl.org |archive-date=January 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104093548/http://perldoc.perl.org/perl5120delta.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

On May 14, 2011, Perl 5.14 was released with [[JSON]] support built-in.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://metacpan.org/pod/distribution/perl/pod/perl5140delta.pod|title=perl5140delta - what is new for perl v5.14.0 - metacpan.org|website=metacpan.org|access-date=July 22, 2017|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725004523/https://metacpan.org/pod/distribution/perl/pod/perl5140delta.pod|url-status=live}}</ref>

On May 20, 2012, Perl 5.16 was released. Notable new features include the ability to specify a given version of Perl that one wishes to emulate, allowing users to upgrade their version of Perl, but still run old scripts that would normally be incompatible.<ref name="5160delta_version">{{cite web |url=https://perldoc.perl.org/perl5160delta |title=perl5160delta - what is new for perl v5.16.0 |access-date=2012-05-21 |website=perldoc.perl.org}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=June 2022}} Perl 5.16 also updates the core to support [[Unicode]] 6.1.<ref name="5160delta_version"/>

On May 18, 2013, Perl 5.18 was released. Notable new features include the new dtrace hooks, lexical subs, more CORE:: subs, overhaul of the hash for security reasons, support for Unicode 6.2.<ref name="5180delta_version">{{cite web |url=https://metacpan.org/pod/release/RJBS/perl-5.18.1/pod/perl5180delta.pod |title=perl5180delta - what is new for perl v5.18.0 - Perl programming language |access-date=2013-10-27 |work=Perl 5 version 18.0 documentation |publisher=metacpan.org |archive-date=October 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029224638/https://metacpan.org/pod/release/RJBS/perl-5.18.1/pod/perl5180delta.pod |url-status=live}}</ref>

On May 27, 2014, Perl 5.20 was released. Notable new features include subroutine signatures, hash slices/new slice syntax, postfix dereferencing (experimental), Unicode 6.3, and a {{Not a typo|rand()}} function using a consistent random number generator.<ref name="5200delta_version">{{cite web |url=https://metacpan.org/source/RJBS/perl-5.20.0/pod/perldelta.pod |title=perl5200delta - what is new for perl v5.20.0 - Perl programming language |access-date=2014-05-27 |work=Perl 5 version 20.0 documentation |publisher=metacpan.org |archive-date=May 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140527190905/https://metacpan.org/source/RJBS/perl-5.20.0/pod/perldelta.pod |url-status=live}}</ref>

Some observers credit the release of Perl 5.10 with the start of the Modern Perl movement.<ref>[http://www.modernperlbooks.com/mt/2009/07/milestones-in-the-perl-renaissance.html Milestones in the Perl Renaissance – Modern Perl Programming] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027105918/http://www.modernperlbooks.com/mt/2009/07/milestones-in-the-perl-renaissance.html |date=October 27, 2012}}. Modernperlbooks.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-17.</ref> In particular, this phrase describes a style of development that embraces the use of the CPAN, takes advantage of recent developments in the language, and is rigorous about creating high quality code.<ref>[http://modernperlbooks.com/books/modern_perl/ Preface (Modern Perl 2011-2012)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928232457/http://modernperlbooks.com/books/modern_perl/ |date=September 28, 2012}}. Modernperlbooks.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-17.</ref> While the book ''Modern Perl''<ref>[http://onyxneon.com/books/modern_perl/ Modern Perl 2011-2012 edition by chromatic |Onyx Neon Press] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222045417/http://onyxneon.com/books/modern_perl/ |date=December 22, 2011}}. Onyxneon.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-17.</ref> may be the most visible standard-bearer of this idea, other groups such as the Enlightened Perl Organization<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.enlightenedperl.org/|title=Enlightened Perl|website=Enlightened Perl|access-date=September 28, 2012|archive-date=February 5, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140205015536/http://www.enlightenedperl.org/|url-status=dead}}</ref> have taken up the cause.

In late 2012 and 2013, several projects for alternative implementations for Perl 5 started: Perl5 in [[Raku (programming language)|Perl6]] by the Rakudo Perl team,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yapcna.org/yn2013/talk/4725 |title=YAPC::NA 2013 – June 3–5, Austin, Texas |publisher=Yapcna.org |date=2013-06-04 |access-date=2014-04-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622201417/http://www.yapcna.org/yn2013/talk/4725 |archive-date=June 22, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> ''{{Not a typo|moe}}'' by Stevan Little and friends,<ref>{{cite web |last=Little |first=Stevan |url=http://blogs.perl.org/users/stevan_little/2013/02/what-is-moe-a-clarification.html |title=What is Moe (a clarification) &#124; Stevan Little |publisher=Blogs.perl.org |date=2013-02-08 |access-date=2014-04-11 |archive-date=December 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219185710/http://blogs.perl.org/users/stevan_little/2013/02/what-is-moe-a-clarification.html |url-status=live}}</ref> ''{{Not a typo|p2}}''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://perl11.org/p2/ |title=p2 on potion |publisher=Perl11.org |date=2004-02-07 |access-date=2014-04-11 |archive-date=September 24, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130924023845/http://perl11.org/p2/ |url-status=live}}</ref> by the Perl11 team under Reini Urban, ''{{Not a typo|gperl}}'' by {{Not a typo|goccy}},<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/goccy/gperl/ |title=goccy/gperl 路 GitHub |publisher=GitHub.com |access-date=2014-04-11 |archive-date=February 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223170215/https://github.com/goccy/gperl |url-status=live}}</ref> and ''{{Not a typo|rperl}},'' a Kickstarter project led by Will Braswell and affiliated with the Perl11 project.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rperl.org/faq.html |title=rperl |publisher=RPerl.org |access-date=2014-08-11 |archive-date=October 18, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018002115/http://rperl.org/faq.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Perl 6 and Raku ===
{{Main|Raku (programming language)}}
[[Image:Camelia.svg|thumb|''Camelia'', the logo for the Perl 6 project<ref>{{cite web |url=http://perl6.org/ |title=Perl 6 |access-date=2011-02-27 |publisher=The Perl 6 Project |archive-date=February 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221094526/http://perl6.org/ |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

At the 2000 [[O'Reilly Open Source Convention|Perl Conference]], Jon Orwant made a case for a major new language initiative.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl6.meta/2000/10/msg424.html |title=Transcription of Larry's talk |access-date=2011-01-25 |last=Torkington |first=Nathan |publisher=nntp.perl.org |archive-date=May 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501081806/http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl6.meta/2000/10/msg424.html |url-status=live}}</ref> This led to a decision to begin work on a redesign of the language, to be called Perl 6. Proposals for new language features were solicited from the Perl community at large, which submitted more than 300 [[Request for Comments|RFCs]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Perl6 - The future of Perl|url=https://www.java-samples.com/showtutorial.php?tutorialid=1443|access-date=2021-05-18|website=www.java-samples.com}}</ref>

Wall spent the next few years digesting the RFCs and synthesizing them into a coherent framework for Perl 6. He presented his design for Perl 6 in a series of documents called "apocalypses" – numbered to correspond to chapters in ''Programming Perl''. {{as of|2011|January}}, the developing specification of Perl 6 was encapsulated in design documents called Synopses – numbered to correspond to Apocalypses.<ref name="syn6">{{cite web |url=http://perlcabal.org/syn/ |title=Official Perl 6 Documentation |access-date=2011-01-25 |publisher=The Perl 6 Project |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831103918/http://perlcabal.org/syn/ |archive-date=August 31, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Thesis work by [[Bradley M. Kuhn]], overseen by Wall, considered the possible use of the [[Java virtual machine]] as a runtime for Perl.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Kuhn |first=Bradley M. |author-link=Bradley M. Kuhn |title=Considerations on Porting Perl to the Java Virtual Machine |type=MS thesis |publisher=University of Cincinnati |date=January 2001 |url=http://www.ebb.org/bkuhn/writings/technical/thesis/ |access-date=2008-06-28 |archive-date=March 21, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080321164747/http://ebb.org/bkuhn/writings/technical/thesis/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Kuhn's thesis showed this approach to be problematic. In 2001, it was decided that Perl 6 would run on a cross-language [[virtual machine]] called [[Parrot virtual machine|Parrot]].

In 2005, [[Audrey Tang]] created the [[Pugs (compiler)|Pugs]] project, an implementation of Perl 6 in [[Haskell]]. This acted as, and continues to act as, a test platform for the Perl 6 language (separate from the development of the actual implementation), allowing the language designers to explore. The Pugs project spawned an active Perl/Haskell cross-language community centered around the [[Libera Chat]] #raku IRC channel. Many [[functional programming]] influences were absorbed by the Perl 6 design team.<ref>{{Cite book|author1=chromatic|author1-link=chromatic (programmer)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JUjmsgEACAAJ|title=Modern Perl|date=2015|publisher=Pragmatic Bookshelf|isbn=978-1-68050-088-2|language=en}}</ref>

In 2012, Perl 6 development was centered primarily on two compilers:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://perl6.org/compilers/features |title=Feature comparison of Perl 6 compilers |access-date=March 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811073233/https://perl6.org/compilers/features |archive-date=August 11, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
# [[Rakudo]], an implementation running on the Parrot virtual machine and the Java virtual machine.<ref>{{cite web |last=Worthington |first=Jonathan |title=Rakudo JVM News: More tests, plus Thread and Promise prototypes |url=http://6guts.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/rakudo-jvm-news-more-tests-plus-thread-and-promise-prototypes/ |work=6guts |date=July 15, 2013 |access-date=July 24, 2013 |archive-date=October 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005055559/http://6guts.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/rakudo-jvm-news-more-tests-plus-thread-and-promise-prototypes/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
# [[Niecza]], which targets the [[Common Language Runtime]].

In 2013, [[MoarVM]] ("Metamodel On A Runtime"), a C language-based [[virtual machine]] designed primarily for Rakudo was announced.<ref>{{cite web |last=Worthington |first=Jonathan |title=MoarVM: A virtual machine for NQP and Rakudo |url=http://6guts.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/moarvm-a-virtual-machine-for-nqp-and-rakudo/ |work=6guts |date=May 31, 2013 |access-date=July 24, 2013 |archive-date=July 9, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709185252/http://6guts.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/moarvm-a-virtual-machine-for-nqp-and-rakudo/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

In October 2019, Perl 6 was renamed to Raku.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lwn.net/Articles/802329/ |title=rename-lwn |access-date=November 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017155422/https://lwn.net/Articles/802329/ |archive-date=October 17, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

{{As of|2017}} only the Rakudo implementation and MoarVM are under active development, and other virtual machines, such as the Java Virtual Machine and [[JavaScript]], are supported.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/rakudo/rakudo/ |title=rakudo/rakudo - GitHub |publisher=GitHub.com |access-date=2013-09-21 |archive-date=July 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729084734/https://github.com/rakudo/rakudo/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Perl 7 ===

In June 2020, Perl 7 was announced as the successor to Perl 5.<ref name="perl7announced">{{cite web |url=https://news.perlfoundation.org/post/perl_7_announced_sawyerx_conference |title=Perl 7 announced at Perl Conference in the Cloud |publisher=perlfoundation.org |date=2020-06-24 |access-date=2020-06-24 |archive-date=June 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626213418/https://news.perlfoundation.org/post/perl_7_announced_sawyerx_conference |url-status=live}}</ref> Perl 7 was to initially be based on Perl 5.32 with a release expected in first half of 2021, and release candidates sooner.<ref name="perl7">{{cite web |url=https://www.perl.com/article/announcing-perl-7/ |title=Announcing Perl 7 |publisher=perl.com |date=2020-06-24 |access-date=2020-06-24 |archive-date=June 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200624160531/https://www.perl.com/article/announcing-perl-7/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

This plan was revised in May 2021, without any release timeframe or version of Perl 5 for use as a baseline specified.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Steering Council meeting #019 2021-05-06|url=https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2021/05/msg260050.html|last1=Clark|first1=Nicholas|date=2021-05-09|quote=The plan remains that there will be a Perl 7 bump, but not immediately after 5.34.0 is released.{{nbsp}}... We don't think that we can deliver on [Perl 7] in 12 months.|access-date=2021-05-17|website=www.nntp.perl.org|archive-date=2021-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518015233/https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2021/05/msg260050.html|url-status=live}}</ref> When Perl 7 would be released, Perl 5 would have gone into long term maintenance. Supported Perl 5 versions however would continue to get important security and bug fixes.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://leanpub.com/preparing_for_perl7 |title=Preparing for Perl 7d |publisher=leanpub.com |date=2020-06-24 |access-date=2020-06-24 |archive-date=June 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625004047/https://leanpub.com/preparing_for_perl7 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Perl 7 was announced on 24 June 2020 at "The Perl Conference in the Cloud" as the successor to Perl 5.<ref name="perl7"/><ref name="perl7announced"/> Based on Perl 5.32, Perl 7 was planned to be [[Backward compatibility|backward compatible]] with modern Perl 5 code; Perl 5 code, without [[Boilerplate code|boilerplate]] (pragma) header needs adding <code>use compat::perl5;</code> to stay compatible, but modern code can drop some of the boilerplate.

The plan to go to Perl 7 brought up more discussion, however, and the Perl Steering Committee canceled it to avoid issues with backward compatibility for scripts that were not written to the pragmas and modules that would become the default in Perl 7. Perl 7 will only come out when the developers add enough features to warrant a major release upgrade.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Perl Steering Council |title=What happened to Perl 7? |url=https://blogs.perl.org/users/psc/2022/05/what-happened-to-perl-7.html |website=blogs.perl.org |access-date=7 July 2022}}</ref>