Sorry about the confusion, I just translate ~T as a Uniq<T> because they are unique (i.e. you can't use them without cloning) and they were called like that on a mailing list a few times (IIRC).
Yes, the @ built-in pointer is being removed as special, replaced by library types like Rc and Gc (for reference counting and garbage collection respectively). There's a vague suggestion for ~ to become a library pointer too, but I don't think this has been totally accepted by the core team. (This would leave only raw pointers and references actually defined in the language.)
There are some plans related to simplifying how vectors and trait objects ("dynamically sized types" or DST) interact but I don't understand them well enough to be able to explain. :)
Is there any guarantee that your (about to be former) employer tell you the truth about why you're being canned? I don't believe so. They may just be giving you what they think is a safe answer. The real reasons for ending your employment with them could be anything (good, bad, silly, or even non-reasons). Nothing to take personally.
That was true until about 5.12. Since 2011, Perl's been much more aggressive about fixing warts and breaking backwards compatibility in intelligent ways (where it's getting in the way of something better or actively harmful).
While it appears that Perl 6 has many impressive features, I'm much more interested in practical matters such as: module versioning, installation, & removal; the state of MoarVM; and the state of the tutorial book.
After years of the spec being nice but the implementations being very basic, the module versioning and installation implementation in Rakudo is finally shaping up. I anticipate it getting pretty robust over the next 6 months. Imo FROGGS' day 11 advent article is poorly written but might be useful:
http://perl6advent.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/day-11-installin...
* Automatically raise their pay every year. It doesn't necessarily need to keep up with market, but they need to know that they aren't being suckers by staying at the job.
this! I can't begin to tell you the number of bad managers I've seen offer the competitive pay rise only _after_ they've been given notice. that just drives home how completely you've been screwing me up until this point...
edit: ok, perhaps not screwing me. but if you know I can make significantly more elsewhere, you shouldn't act shocked when I take the opportunity...
Bingo. Companies should have (at least) two mechanisms for raising pay: a 1 to 3% (tied to some measure of inflation) increase everyone gets, and a variable rate tied to their performance/company success/etc.
don't constantly push to have your employees stay late
My favourite is 'flexible work hours' that always seems to stack in the company's favour. Work a 12-hour day yesterday? Go home an hour earlier today... if that.
I don't know Dart, but it looks as if you need a Google account to upload packages to that central package repo. Is that correct?