There once was a gentleman...

[chargrill]

It's been a while...

#!/usr/bin/perl -sire

package a;sub used{$_[1]}sub was{$_[-1].=~~reverse($^I).',';;print$_[1
+]
}package main;sub his::parsing{' tsuJ'}sub when::hammer{~~reverse$_[1]
+}
sub oft::he{my($ self,$ he)=@_;my$ c=join'',sort qw(t o n);$ he=~s/(.*
+)
/\1a${c}h$^I /x&&$he}sub DWIM::nevermore{$_[-1].'P'}sub would::perl{$d
+=
$_[-1].$^I.chr 108}sub whose::jim{$J=$ _[1];$J=~s/(r)(e)/\2\1/g;$J }su
+b
named::gentleman{$e.=$ _ for qw*a c k*;$_[-1].' h'.$e}sub once::there{
+}

there once was a gentleman named jim
whose perl would nevermore DWIM
he oft used a hammer
when parsing his grammar
and never the wiser was him

Updated

I wrote this quite a long time ago, but never posted it. While I was cleaning up my homedir, I found it and decided to post it. Then I went out for some errands, thinking about *why* I hadn't gotten around to posting it, and I think the answer was "the limerick isn't that good". So on the drive back, I updated it a little, and above are the results, while the original I posted is here:

#!/usr/bin/perl -sire

package a;sub used{$_[1]}sub was{$_[-1].=~~reverse($^I).',';;print
$_[1]}package main;sub his::parsing{' tsuJ'}sub when::hammer{~~reverse
$_[1]}sub oft::he{my($self,$ he)=@_;my$ c=join'',sort qw(t o n);$ he=~
s/(.*)/\1a${c}h$^I /x&&$he}sub dim::incredibly{$_[-1].'P'}sub was::lig
+ht{$d=$_
[-1].$ ^I.chr 108}sub whose::jim{$J=$ _[1];$J=~s/(r)(e)/\2\1/g;$J } su
+b
named::gentleman{$e.=$ _ for qw*a c k*;$_[-1].' h'.$e}sub once::there{
+}

there once was a gentleman named jim
whose light was incredibly dim
he oft used a hammer
when parsing his grammar
and never the wiser was him

[muba]

woaw... Nice!

But I don't understand a f*** of what you're doing there.. :)

[arkturuz]

Yes, the limerick isn't that good: you forgot 'vim' :-) I suggest a slightly different rhyme sequence:

there once was a gentleman named jim
whose light was incredibly dim
he oft used a vim;
when parsing his grammar
he oft used a hammer
and never the wiser was him

[chargrill]

Hi arkturuz,

Please check the wikipedia entry for Limerick, which is slightly excerpted here:

A limerick is a five-line poem with a strict meter, popularized by Edward Lear and Charlie Murphy. The rhyme scheme is usually "A-A-B-B-A", with a rather rigid meter. The first, second, and fifth lines are three metrical feet; the third and fourth two metrical feet.

... and the page is filled with examples that follow the same form. I've never heard it is "metrical feet" - I've usually heard it referred to as "beats", but the meaning is the same.

[arkturuz]

Heh, I was sure that limerick was some sort of a short poem without strict rules you quoted. Also, I wanted to put vim somewhere into it. :-)
I used to write Free Verse poetry, so I forgot about the rules and regulations. Thank you for the correction!