http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=198016

Hello, brethren;
I was wondering about a foolish thing: in our Monastery, cradle of wisdom (or su pposedly so), there is an equally wise section named "Cool Uses for Perl".
I realize that too many times I've written silly, stupid insane programs in Perl , some of them, by the way, amusing and somewhat funny, but not properly "cool".
What do you think about a brand new section named "Insane Uses for Perl" ?
Feel free to substitute "Insane" with "mad", "stupid", "terrific", "frightening" , "evil" or any other specification you'd like to read about.
And finally, if many of us should like the idea of reading everyday a new comple tely mad (mis)use of such a beloved programming language, well, let's push towar ds the creation of this new section!

There's no Good without Evil,
We need that just to balance.
And after all,
Who can say
What Evil and Good are?

SiG

perl -le 's ssSss.s sSsSiss.s s$sSss.ss .$s\107ss.print'

P.S.: come on guys, I posted a scripts that rides a skateboard and another that rides a surf in CUFP, do you think it to be cool or insane? ;-P

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Insane Uses for Perl
by moxliukas (Curate) on Sep 15, 2002 at 10:55 UTC

    In my opinion any perl code that makes me raise the eyebrows because of its application (as opposed to style) it pretty well summarised by the word "cool". Most of the time cool is pretty insane. The programs that are written as insane are actually written for the coolness factor - sort of showing that you can do this insane stuff with Perl, so a proper place for them is a CUPF section, IMHO.

    It seems that our society is heading for a place where a distinction between cool and insane is more and more blurred and eventually they will mean the same thing ;)

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Re: Insane Uses for Perl
by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Sep 15, 2002 at 10:32 UTC
    I think those are perfectly suited for the Cool Uses for Perl section. :-)

    Makeshifts last the longest.

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Re: Insane Uses for Perl
by bart (Canon) on Sep 15, 2002 at 13:23 UTC
    Off-topic, I'm sure... but this line only gives me a compile error: 
    perl -le 's ssSss.s sSsSiss.s s$sSss.ss .$s\107ss.print'

    [download]
    Backslash found where operator expected at -e line 1, near "$s\"
        (Missing operator before \?)
Bareword found where operator expected at -e line 1, near "107ss"
        (Missing operator before ss?)
syntax error at -e line 1, near "$s\"
Execution of -e aborted due to compilation errors.

    [download]
    What gives...?
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      I think that Sigmund is trying to use the s character as the delimeter in a substitution. Replacing this with / changes the code from 
      perl -le 's ssSss.s sSsSiss.s s$sSss.ss .$s\107ss.print'

      [download]
      to 
      perl -le 's //S/s.s /S/Sis/.s /$/S/s.s/ .$/\107/s.print'

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      This prints 
      SisS

      [download]
      Sigmund, is this correct?

      UPDATE:
      I have just read this node: Beware the S ! where Sigmund explains his signature, so it would appear that there was just a typo in the original post.

      The correct version, 

      perl -le 's ssSss.s sSsSiss.s s$sSss.s s.$s\107ss.print'

      [download]
      works fine and prints 
      SiG

      [download]
      Basically the 16th s should have been after the space, not before it.

      JJ

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Re: Insane Uses for Perl
by Mr. Muskrat (Canon) on Sep 16, 2002 at 15:22 UTC

    Okay, an insane use for Perl?

    I'd definately have to say using it to control the guidance system of weapons of mass destruction.

    Where's the code?

    It's non-existant! Who's insane enough to do that?

    But just for fun

    Read more... (2 kB)
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Re: Insane Uses for Perl
by Anonymous Monk on Sep 15, 2002 at 18:21 UTC

    Insane Uses for Perl? I thought The Code Catacombs already had a few sections devoted to such usages, ya know, GUI programming and other "don't try this in Perl" projects ;)

    Next they'll be trying to write drivers in Perl...

[reply]
      Like writing a File System in Perl, hahaha...

      Ooops. Someone actually made one...

      But the link is down. Does anyone know where perlfs went?

      ____________________
      Jeremy
      I didn't believe in evil until I dated it.

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      Like writing a WindowManager in Perl, hahaha...

      Ooops. Someone actually made one...

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      I think GUI programming in Perl (for small/medium programs) is not an Insane use for Perl. I agree, it shouldn't be your first choice, but Insane, i disagree.
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Re: Insane Uses for Perl
by tbone1 (Monsignor) on Sep 17, 2002 at 12:35 UTC
    How about a "Florida Election Simulator"?

    Then again, that would be insanity in any programming language.

    --
    tbone1
    As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.

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