--- /dev/null
+This is a module for computing the difference between two files, two
+strings, or any other two lists of things. It uses an intelligent
+algorithm similar to (or identical to) the one used by the Unix "diff"
+program. It is guaranteed to find the *smallest possible* set of
+differences.
+
+This package contains a few parts.
+
+Algorithm::Diff is the module that contains several interfaces for which
+computing the differences betwen two lists.
+
+The several "diff" programs also included in this package use
+Algorithm::Diff to find the differences and then they format the output.
+
+Algorithm::Diff also includes some other useful functions such as "LCS",
+which computes the longest common subsequence of two lists.
+
+A::D is suitable for many uses. You can use it for finding the smallest
+set of differences between two strings, or for computing the most
+efficient way to update the screen if you were replacing "curses".
+
+Algorithm::DiffOld is a previous version of the module which is included
+primarilly for those wanting to use a custom comparison function rather
+than a key generating function (and who don't mind the significant
+performance penalty of perhaps 20-fold).
+
+diff.pl implements a "diff" in Perl that is as simple as (was
+previously) possible so that you can see how it works. The output
+format is not compatible with regular "diff". It needs to be
+reimplemented using the OO interface to greatly simplify the code.
+
+diffnew.pl implements a "diff" in Perl with full bells and whistles. By
+Mark-Jason, with code from cdiff.pl included.
+
+cdiff.pl implements "diff" that generates real context diffs in either
+traditional format or GNU unified format. Original contextless
+"context" diff supplied by Christian Murphy. Modifications to make it
+into a real full-featured diff with -c and -u options supplied by Amir
+D. Karger.
+
+Yes, you can use this program to generate patches.
+
+OTHER RESOURCES
+
+"Longest Common Subsequences", at
+http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/161/960229.html
+
+This code was adapted from the Smalltalk code of Mario Wolczko
+<mario@wolczko.com>, which is available at
+ftp://st.cs.uiuc.edu/pub/Smalltalk/MANCHESTER/manchester/4.0/diff.st
+
+THANKS SECTION
+
+Thanks to Ned Konz's for rewriting the module to greatly improve
+performance, for maintaining it over the years, and for readilly handing
+it over to me so I could plod along with my improvements.
+
+(From Ned Konz's earlier versions):
+
+Thanks to Mark-Jason Dominus for doing the original Perl version and
+maintaining it over the last couple of years. Mark-Jason has been a huge
+contributor to the Perl community and CPAN; it's because of people like
+him that Perl has become a success.
+
+Thanks to Mario Wolczko <mario@wolczko.com> for writing and making
+publicly available his Smalltalk version of diff, which this Perl
+version is heavily based on.
+
+Thanks to Mike Schilli <m@perlmeister.com> for writing sdiff and
+traverse_balanced and making them available for the Algorithm::Diff
+distribution.
+
+(From Mark-Jason Dominus' earlier versions):
+
+Huge thanks to Amir Karger for adding full context diff supprt to
+"cdiff.pl", and then for waiting patiently for five months while I let
+it sit in a closet and didn't release it. Thank you thank you thank
+you, Amir!
+
+Thanks to Christian Murphy for adding the first context diff format
+support to "cdiff.pl".
projects / pkg-perl / blobdiff