Foiled by Curses

Tiefling has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

As part of my continuing (if halting) exploration of Perl, I downloaded spork.pl from PerlMonks and tried to get it to work on my system. After fetching the Curses module and a fresh version of ncurses, I managed to get the former to install, but not without much whinging and 'Function NOT found' messages. The normal Curses demo worked. Spork now refuses to compile with a whole screenful of error messages, mostly grumbling about the use of 'our', although there's a good range of complaints. Even with -w and strict turned off, it won't run. Have I got an antiquated (by these standards) version of Perl, or is something else wrong? I found the C-centric nature of the Curses module unhelpful in this connection, needless to say.

Tiefling

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GAT d++ s:- a-- C++ UL P++ L++(+) E? W+(++) N+ o? K w+(--)
!O M- V? PS+ PE- Y PGP- t+ 5 X+ R+++ tv- b+++ DI++++ D+ G+ e++ h!(-) y
+?
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
[download]

Edit: chipmunk 2001-06-25

Comment on Foiled by Curses Download Code

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Re: Foiled by Curses by orkysoft (Friar) on Jun 25, 2001 at 17:38 UTC
`our` requires Perl 5.6, while 5.5.3 is widely used as well (there's nothing wrong with that). I've `use`d the Curses module as well for a bit, but the documentation kinda made me curse. Maybe someone would want to write a tutorial or some other kind of documentation about it, or point to existing documentation?	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Re: Foiled by Curses by Chmrr (Vicar) on Jun 25, 2001 at 18:38 UTC
As the author of the node in question, I feel I should say something. The only feature of 5.6 that Spork uses is `our`. For now, I shall stick a note in the node saying that it requires 5.6, but I'll eadeavor to work out the use of `our` so those still using 5.005_03 can still join the fun. Also, though I'm far from a Curses guru, I did start to write something resembling a tutorial. For me, writing Spork was an exercize in reading manpages -- I would point you to the manpages on `ncurses`, as well as the `curs_` pages (`curs_window`, `curs_scroll` and `curs_attr` were my only friends during that time..) Once I get some Copious Free Time, I'll finish up the tutorial and post it here. Update: The node in question now uses globals isntead of `our` variables, and thus should work under Perls < v5.6.0. perl -e 'print "I love $^X$\"$]!$/"#$&V"+@( NO CARRIER'	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Foiled by Curses by Tiefling (Monk) on Jun 25, 2001 at 16:06 UTC
Update: The link in the top post should be spork.pl. And why isn't it possible to correct/append to top posts in SoPW and the like? Tiefling `-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.1 GAT d++ s:- a-- C++ UL P++ L++(+) E? W+(++) N+ o? K w+(--) !O M- V? PS+ PE- Y PGP- t+ 5 X+ R+++ tv- b+++ DI++++ D+ G+ e++ h!(-) y +? ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Re: Foiled by Curses by Chady (Priest) on Jun 25, 2001 at 16:15 UTC
AFAIK, You cannot edit top nodes because they can get on the frontpage, and you wouldn't want someone changing the contents.. because it was frontpaged for it's current contents.. what happens if they change? He who asks will be a fool for five minutes, but he who doesn't ask will remain a fool for life. Chady \| http://chady.net/	[reply]