&gt; This is first, a reflection of the playfulness of Perl, and second, a statement about language design. The first release, an alpha, was 6.a. The second, a beta, was 6.b. The third, the actual &#x27;final&#x27; release, was 6....c? Since it was being released on Christmas, and &#x27;c&#x27; fits, it was decided that releases of Perl 6 would be named after holidays, and they went back and found them for A and B too.<p>This sounds absolutely retarded.<p>Back when Perl 5 this kind of hacker clown routine was popular, but now I think most people prefer a bit more simplicity and clarity.