A patch on #5407.

[perl5.git] / Todo

Always check out the latest perl5-porters discussions on these subjects
before embarking on an implementation tour.

Tie Modules
	VecArray		Implement array using vec()
	SubstrArray		Implement array using substr()
	VirtualArray		Implement array using a file
	ShiftSplice		Defines shift et al in terms of splice method

Would be nice to have
	pack "(stuff)*", "(stuff)4", ...
	contiguous bitfields in pack/unpack
	lexperl
	bundled perl preprocessor
	use posix calls internally where possible
	gettimeofday (possibly best left for a module?)
	format BOTTOM
	-i rename file only when successfully changed
	all ARGV input should act like <>
	report HANDLE [formats].
	support in perlmain to rerun debugger
	regression tests using __DIE__ hook
	lexically scoped functions: my sub foo { ... }
	lvalue functions
	    wantlvalue?  more generalized want()/caller()?
	named prototypes: sub foo ($foo, @bar) { ... } ?
	regression/sanity tests for suidperl
	iterators/lazy evaluation/continuations/first/
	    first_defined/short-circuiting grep/??
	    This is a very thorny and hotly debated subject,
	    tread carefully and do your homework first
	full 64 bit support (i.e. "long long").  Things to consider:
	    how to store/retrieve 32+ integers into/from Perl scalars?
	    32+ constants in Perl code? (non-portable!)
	    32+ arguments/return values to/from system calls? (seek et al)
	    32+ bit ops (&|^~, currently explicitly disabled)
	generalise Errno way of extracting cpp symbols and use that in
	    Errno and Fcntl (ExtUtils::CppSymbol?)
	the _r-problem: for all the {set,get,end}*() system database
	     calls (and a couple more: readdir, *rand*, crypt, *time,
	     tmpnam) there are in many systems the _r versions
	     to be used in re-entrant (=multithreaded) code
	     Icky things: the _r API is not standardized and
	     the _r-forms require per-thread data to store their state
	memory profiler: turn malloc.c:Perl_dump_mstats() into
	    an extension (Devel::MProf?) that would return the malloc
	    stats in a nice Perl datastructure (also a simple interface
	    to return just the grand total would be good)
	Unicode: [=bar=], combining characters equivalence
	    (U+4001 + U+0308 should be equal to U+00C4, in other words
             A+diaereres should equal Ä), Unicode collation

Possible pragmas
	debugger
	optimize (use less qw[memory cpu])

Optimizations
	constant function cache
	switch structures
	foreach(reverse...)
	optimize away constant split at compile time (a la qw[f o o])
	cache eval tree (unless lexical outer scope used (mark in &compiling?))
	rcatmaybe
	shrink opcode tables via multiple implementations selected in peep
	cache hash value?  (Not a win, according to Guido)
	optimize away @_ where possible
	"one pass" global destruction
	rewrite regexp parser for better integrated optimization
	LRU cache of regexp: foreach $pat (@pats) { foo() if /$pat/ }

Vague possibilities
	ref function in list context?
	make tr/// return histogram in list context?
	loop control on do{} et al
	explicit switch statements
	built-in globbing
	compile to real threaded code
	structured types
	autocroak?
	modifiable $1 et al