The story of the big public discussion happened in the beginning of 2013 about the future naming of the Perl programming language.

1. Perl 7,
the Story of

2. Ovid back from FOSDEM 2013

4. Perl 7 | Ovid [blogs.perl.org]
blogs.perl.org/users/ovid/2013/02/perl-7.html
Feb 6, 2013
Perl 7 - Final Thoughts | Ovid [blogs.perl.org]
blogs.perl.org/users/ovid/2013/02/perl-7---final-thoughts.html
Feb 11, 2013
Perl 5, Perl 6, Perl 7, Perl 2013, whatever - blogs Perl - Perl.org
blogs.perl.org/users/.../perl-5-perl-6-perl-7-perl-2013-whatever.html
Feb 8, 2013
YAPC::Europe 2013 in Kiev, week minus 26. Perl 7 | Andrew Shitov ...
blogs.perl.org/.../yapceurope-2013-in-kiev-week-minus-26-perl-7.ht...
Feb 11, 2013
More on Perl 7 | Andrew Shitov [blogs.perl.org]
blogs.perl.org/users/andrew_shitov/2013/02/more-on-perl-7.html
Feb 8, 2013
My Prediction | Ovid [blogs.perl.org]
blogs.perl.org/users/ovid/2013/02/my-prediction.html
My Prediction. By Ovid on February 7, 2013

5. Pumpkin Perl - Redux | Matt S Trout (mst) [blogs.perl.org]
blogs.perl.org/users/matt_s_trout.../pumpkin-perl---redux.html
Feb 15, 2013
Perl 10 | Toby Inkster [blogs.perl.org]
blogs.perl.org/users/toby_inkster/2013/02/perl-10.html
Feb 9, 2013
perl5-perl6-perl7-who-cares-as-long-as-its-perl - Blogs - Perl.org
blogs.perl.org/mt/mt-search.fcgi?blog_id=323...perl7...
Feb 8, 2013
I am sad | Gabor Szabo [blogs.perl.org]
blogs.perl.org/users/gabor_szabo/2013/02/i-am-sad.html
Feb 16, 2013
Names and Numbers, Brand and Identity - blogs Perl - Perl.org
blogs.perl.org/...s.../names-and-numbers-brand-and-identity.html
Feb 14, 2013
On the version number succeeding Perl 5 | Joel Berger [blogs.perl.org]
blogs.perl.org/.../on-the-version-number-succeeding-perl-5....
Feb 6, 2013

6. Why Perl 7?

7. Because we use Perl 5

8. Seriously,
For the stranger,
Perl ≡ Perl 5

9. and
Perl 5 ≡ 1994
5.000 1994−Oct−17

10. or at its best,
Perl 5 ≡ 2002
5.8.0 2002−Jul−18

11. almost never
5 = 5.10
5.10.0 2007−Dec−18

12. nobody cares
5 = 5.16
5.16.0 2012−May−20

13. 1994 . . . 2013
It is still Perl 5

14. 1994 . . . 2013
19 years!

15. 19 years!
Perl is 25

16. What a newcomer will think?

17. What a newcomer will think?

18. Will a newcomer choose Perl?

19. Will a newcomer choose Perl?

21. What to do?

22. 1) Nothing

23. 1) Nothing
2) Rename Perl

24. 1) Nothing
2) Rename Perl
3) Change version

25. Doing nothing
is not an option

26. Doing nothing
is not an option
If you love Perl,
if you want it the best,
if you see it in the future,
if you want it last longer,
if you want it develop,
if you want new users,
etc., etc.

27. Renaming Perl
equals rejecting Perl

28. Camel Perl

29. Pumpkings’ Perl

30. Changing Perl version . . .

31. To which version?

32. Perl5
(no space)

33. Perl 7

34. Perl II

35. Perl 10

36. Perl 20

37. Perl 2013

38. No doubt that
the new major version
will be noticed from outside

39. No doubt that
the new major version
will be noticed from outside
immediately!

40. perlmonks.org, 2008

41. perl8.org, 2013

47. Still depends on the conference’s budget

48. The biggest problem facing Perl is the lack of a single clear
vision for where Perl is going, and a strategy for getting there.
And there's no-one (wanting) to provide these things. And the lack
of this prompts some people to pitch their vision and strategy
(which is where I think Moe is coming from). I briefly hoped that
one of the outputs of the perl reunification summit was going to
be such a vision, but if it was I didn't see it.
I'd prefer a single unified vision, as I think the greatest success for
Perl lies that way.
Neil Bowers

49. Perl 6 is the next Perl 5
2000

50. Perl 6 is
a different language
~2010

51. 5 → 6

52. 5 → 6 → 7

53. 5 → 6 → 7

54. 5 → 6 → 7
?

55. How would
Perl 6 developers
react?

56. How would
it change Google results?

59. Flickr: Claudio Ramirez

61. However, I think this is all somewhat beside the point. Perl 6 is
designed to fix the problems pointed out by the 361 RFCs, and
Perl 5, by whatever name, needs to address at least a subset of
the same problems, and that is not likely to be easy to get
consensus on. Also, I suspect that as soon as Perl 6 achieves
speed parity and interoperability with Perl 5, there will be less
grumbling all around, since a part of that is driven by a
perception of the failure of Perl 6. But when Perl 6 actually does
become a better Perl 5, people won't fight it quite so much.
That's how it looks from this end, anyway... :)
Larry Wall

62. Apocalypse 1
I was initially inclined to accept this RFC, but decided to reject it
on theological grounds. In apocalyptic literature, 7 is the number
representing perfection, while 6 is the number representing
imperfection. In fact, we probably wouldn't end up converging on
a version number of 2*PI as the RFC suggests, but rather on
6.6.6, which would be rather unfortunate.
So Perl 7 will be the last major revision. In fact, Perl 7 will be so
perfect, it will need no revision at all. Perl 6 is merely the
prototype for Perl 7. :-)

63. I was initially inclined to accept this RFC, but decided to reject it
on theological grounds. In apocalyptic literature, 7 is the number
representing perfection, while 6 is the number representing
imperfection. In fact, we probably wouldn't end up converging on
a version number of 2*PI as the RFC suggests, but rather on
6.6.6, which would be rather unfortunate.
So Perl 7 will be the last major revision. In fact, Perl 7 will be so
perfect, it will need no revision at all. Perl 6 is merely the
prototype for Perl 7. :-)
Apocalypse 1

65. __END__
Andrew Shitov andy@shitov.ru
April 2013