Learning a New Programming Language Part 3: Syntax Differences - Let the Parrot Speak
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Version 6 of the Perl language is currently in development. The Perl development community appear to be taking a go slow and get it right approach, which means Perl 6 may take awhile to arrive in a form that we can all use. When it does arrive there will be the inevitable improvements in the language itself, but what will be the most exciting thing about Perl 6 will be the interpreter called Parrot.
The plan for Parrot (http://www.parrotcode.org/) is to allow it to run not just Perl 5 and 6 code, but code in other languages as well. In theory, if Parrot were integrated into an application such as a Web browser, you could do client side scripting in Perl, Python, Javascript and many other languages, all using the same fast interpreter. It could also be used as an Apache module. One module, multiple languages. It is definitely something to watch for.
Java and C#
As part of their .NET Framework, Microsoft offers C#. If you are a Java programmer, you will have little trouble with C#, as it is very similar. The minor differences between C# and Java include the way variables and object are passed (by reference or by value), primitive types, the C# foreach construct, method arguments and the manner in which code can be organized. These are some of the main differences. None of them are significant if you are moving from one to the other, and both would have essentially the same learning curve for someone coming from other languages.
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