Should we re-title Learning Perl to Learning Perl 5 for the next edition? How much of a fuss would we cause?

Our trick is to position our book for the major version of Perl that most everyone uses (Perl 5) next to the same sort of book for the mostly different language with the same name (Perl 6).

Up until now, we distinguished the version of the thing called “Perl” in a ribbon on the edge of the book. But, this thing called “Perl 6” is out there and it’s not an upgrade to Perl 5 (unless you think of Perl as an upgrade to awk). The books aren’t going to be compatible and we don’t want people to buy the wrong book.

For most people using Perl as part of their job, they want the current track and not the Perl 6 one. However, at the same time, they aren’t going to realize the difference and go for the highest number.

Who has some good advice for us? We have a Survey Monkey survey (which might show up embedded right under this), or you can leave a comment.

The survey is closed with an overwhelming cry for renaming the book.