Rakudo

Rakudo is the reference implementation of the Raku programming language, formerly known as Perl 6. It serves as the primary compiler and runtime for most Raku programs and is maintained by the open-source Raku community. The Rakudo project coordinates the development of the compiler and its standard library as part of the broader Raku ecosystem.

Rakudo is implemented in Raku and relies on the NQP toolkit (Not Quite Perl) to generate code for one or more runtime backends. The most widely used backend is MoarVM, a high-performance VM designed for dynamic languages; Rakudo can also target the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Parrot, the earlier VM from the Perl 6 project, is now largely superseded.

Development history: The Perl 6/Raku project began in the early 2000s and produced several iterations before becoming Rakudo and its backends. Since its early days, Rakudo has evolved toward fuller language conformance and feature completeness, with the language renamed to Raku in 2019 and continued updates in subsequent years. Rakudo is considered the reference implementation and often serves as the baseline against which other implementations are measured.

Features and scope: Rakudo implements the core Raku language, including its gradual typing system, multiple dispatch, object-oriented features with roles, grammars for parsing languages, concurrency primitives, and a rich standard library and ecosystem modules. It enables the execution of Raku code on MoarVM and JVM with interoperability and performance characteristics that depend on the chosen backend. The project also provides tools for building, testing, and distributing Raku programs.

Administration and availability: Rakudo is open source and hosted on public version-control platforms. It is developed by an international community of contributors, with releases coordinated alongside the Raku language specification and ecosystem, and distribution through prebuilt packages and installers for major platforms.