Thanks, that is interesting to hear! If the original phrases are comprehensible, I need to work a bit on my skills...
BTW: i just noticed the book is really a moving target, as i cannot find the original text anymore.
Anyway, the vanished text under chapter 1, section 'The Default Scalar Variable' described the predeclared variables $a and $b, and reasoned that $_ could not be used in sort() because sort() 'must process the elements of its list two at a time'. This is correct of course (the elements are just not necessarily neighbors), but the wording suggested to me: sort() iterates on adjacent elements pairs of its list.
