pod/perlfunc: stop recommending older syntax supported by 5.6.*

Stop recommending the more verbose version syntax supported by 5.6.*,
as noted in the docs 5.8.0 is now old enough to drink in some parts of
the world, so we can switch this around to recommending the version
literals first, and then explaining in passing why someone might run
into the older syntax.

Furthermore, since most perl versions people encounter these days are
>=5.10, switch to 5.24.1 as an example for these versions.

While I'm at it, stop calling "use VERSION" the "peculiar" form, it
adds nothing, and just confuses the reader.

1 files changed, 25 insertions, 24 deletions

diff --git a/pod/perlfunc.pod b/pod/perlfunc.pod
index 1a7291dcf1..6cb9b9aec9 100644
--- a/pod/perlfunc.pod
+++ b/pod/perlfunc.pod
@@ -6358,23 +6358,24 @@ X<require>
 Demands a version of Perl specified by VERSION, or demands some semantics
 specified by EXPR or by L<C<$_>|perlvar/$_> if EXPR is not supplied.
 
-VERSION may be either a numeric argument such as 5.006, which will be
-compared to L<C<$]>|perlvar/$]>, or a literal of the form v5.6.1, which
-will be compared to L<C<$^V>|perlvar/$^V> (or C<$PERL_VERSION> in
-L<English>).  An exception is raised if VERSION is greater than the
-version of the current Perl interpreter.  Compare with
+VERSION may be either a literal such as v5.24.1, which will be
+compared to L<C<$^V>|perlvar/$^V> (or C<$PERL_VERSION> in L<English>),
+or a numeric argument of the form 5.024001, which will be compared to
+L<C<$]>|perlvar/$]>. An exception is raised if VERSION is greater than
+the version of the current Perl interpreter.  Compare with
 L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST>, which can do a similar check at
 compile time.
 
-Specifying VERSION as a literal of the form v5.6.1 should generally be
-avoided, because it leads to misleading error messages under earlier
-versions of Perl that do not support this syntax.  The equivalent numeric
-version should be used instead.
+Specifying VERSION as a numeric argument of the form 5.024001 should
+generally be avoided as older less readable syntax compared to
+v5.24.1. Before perl 5.8.0 released in 2002 the more verbose numeric
+form was the only supported syntax, which is why you might see it in
+older code.
 
-    require v5.6.1;     # run time version check
-    require 5.6.1;      # ditto
-    require 5.006_001;  # ditto; preferred for backwards
-                          compatibility
+    require v5.24.1;    # run time version check
+    require 5.24.1;     # ditto
+    require 5.024_001;  # ditto; older syntax compatible
+                          with perl 5.6
 
 Otherwise, L<C<require>|/require VERSION> demands that a library file be
 included if it hasn't already been included.  The file is included via
@@ -9307,10 +9308,10 @@ package.  It is exactly equivalent to
 except that Module I<must> be a bareword.
 The importation can be made conditional by using the L<if> module.
 
-In the peculiar C<use VERSION> form, VERSION may be either a positive
-decimal fraction such as 5.006, which will be compared to
-L<C<$]>|perlvar/$]>, or a v-string of the form v5.6.1, which will be
-compared to L<C<$^V>|perlvar/$^V> (aka $PERL_VERSION).  An
+In the C<use VERSION> form, VERSION may be either a v-string such as
+v5.24.1, which will be compared to L<C<$^V>|perlvar/$^V> (aka
+$PERL_VERSION), or a numeric argument of the form 5.024001, which will be
+compared to L<C<$]>|perlvar/$]>.  An
 exception is raised if VERSION is greater than the version of the
 current Perl interpreter; Perl will not attempt to parse the rest of the
 file.  Compare with L<C<require>|/require VERSION>, which can do a
@@ -9318,14 +9319,14 @@ similar check at run time.
 Symmetrically, C<no VERSION> allows you to specify that you want a version
 of Perl older than the specified one.
 
-Specifying VERSION as a literal of the form v5.6.1 should generally be
-avoided, because it leads to misleading error messages under earlier
-versions of Perl (that is, prior to 5.6.0) that do not support this
-syntax.  The equivalent numeric version should be used instead.
+Specifying VERSION as a numeric argument of the form 5.024001 should
+generally be avoided as older less readable syntax compared to
+v5.24.1. Before perl 5.8.0 released in 2002 the more verbose numeric
+orm was the only supported syntax, which is why you might see it in
 
-    use v5.6.1;     # compile time version check
-    use 5.6.1;      # ditto
-    use 5.006_001;  # ditto; preferred for backwards compatibility
+    use v5.24.1;    # compile time version check
+    use 5.24.1;     # ditto
+    use 5.024_001;  # ditto; older syntax compatible with perl 5.6
 
 This is often useful if you need to check the current Perl version before
 L<C<use>|/use Module VERSION LIST>ing library modules that won't work