Re: Writing for backwards compatibility

[friedo]

If requirements don't dictate a version of Perl to target, what version do you target when writing code for reuse?

I generally target 5.6. It is probably the most widely installed perl these days and I have never been in a situation (yet) where I absolutely needed a 5.8 feature. Indeed, I don't know that I've ever absolutely needed a 5.6 feature, but things like lexical filehandles, our instead of use vars, etc. are rather convenient.

Put differently, what features are you willing to give up for backwards compatible code?

I'm not willing to give up much beyond Perl 5.6. IMHO, 5.6 is really the time when Perl 5 became a mature, "stable" programming language. 5.8 is a great accomplishment but it's not as big a milestone was 5.6 was.