2020 Perl Advent Calendar - Day 24

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Over the course of this blog post series we have seen a number of syntax-providing modules from CPAN. Each of them sets out to neaten up some specific kind of structure often found in Perl code.

• Future::AsyncAwait aims to neaten up asynchronous code flow, replacing older techniques like ->then method chaining and helper functions from Future::Utils by replacing them with regular Perl syntax.
• Syntax::Keyword::Try brings the familiar try/catch pattern for handling exceptions, replacing more manual techniques involving eval {} blocks and inspecting the $@ variable.
• Object::Pad provides an entire set of syntax keywords for managing classes of objects, allowing stateful object-oriented code to be neatly written without the risk of things like hash key collsions on $self->{...}.

Each one of these allows writing shorter, neater code that has less "machinery noise". With fewer distractions in the code it becomes clearer to see the detail of the specific situation the code is for. With less code to write there's less opportunity to introduce bugs.

Moreover we have seen that these syntax modules can be combined together, used in conjunction to allow even greater benefits. We saw on day 4 that try/catch control flow works within async sub, on day 22 that object methods can be marked as asynchronous with async method, and on day 23 we explored how the dynamically assignment syntax can be combined with objects, asynchronous functions, and even both at the same time.

The various code examples we've seen over the past 22 days or so have been written using these syntax modules, and also make use of Perl's signatures feature, and other things where possible, all to help in this regard. The shorter neatness that comes from not needing to write the line (or two) of code to unpack the function's arguments from @_ (and maybe the $self method invocant as well) removes yet another distraction and potential source of errors.

In summary: This series has been about what it feels like to write Perl code in the year 2020 - it has been about 2020 Perl. This is a language just as flexible and adaptable as Perl has ever been, yet still capable of any of the modern techniques common to other languages, which perhaps even the Perl of five or ten years ago was lacking in - neat function arguments, asynchronous control, exception handling, and syntax for object orientation. With all these new abilities, 2020 has been a great year for writing Perl code.

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