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Perl-Users Digest, Issue: 9143 Volume: 10

daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Perl-Users Digest)
Tue Apr 11 06:05:50 2006

Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 03:05:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Perl-Users Digest <Perl-Users-Request@ruby.OCE.ORST.EDU>
To: Perl-Users@ruby.OCE.ORST.EDU (Perl-Users Digest)

Perl-Users Digest           Tue, 11 Apr 2006     Volume: 10 Number: 9143

Today's topics:
        Blather-Adjusting Programs vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com
    Re: Blather-Adjusting Programs vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com
    Re: EXAMPLE -- Re: Strange issue with `CHOMP' not worki <ignoramus20015@NOSPAM.20015.invalid>
        new CPAN modules at Tue Apr 11 2006 (Randal Schwartz)
        Posting Guidelines for comp.lang.perl.misc ($Revision:  tadmc@augustmail.com
        tr/// broken? <nospam-abuse@ilyaz.org>
    Re: utf8 filenames <rvtol+news@isolution.nl>
    Re: XS progamming question (Anno Siegel)
    Re: XS progamming question <nospam-abuse@ilyaz.org>
        Digest Administrivia (Last modified: 6 Apr 01) (Perl-Users-Digest Admin)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 05:29:02 +0000 (UTC)
From: vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com
Subject: Blather-Adjusting Programs
Message-Id: <e1fequ$5se$1@reader1.panix.com>



   You folks mean to tell me there's no program out there that would
take a file of simple text and blatherise it to the level of another
"reference" file? Or Adjust the "Fog Index" of a text file up or down
from its input level. I'm totally serious. I'm tired of fighting.
I just want to "get along". 

   I have one idea: you score each verb and noun on, say, five,
different scales, then you pile on similarly ranked adverbs and
adjectives until you meet the volume requirement. Or you remove
accordingly. In MS-Word type environments, you score less necessary
modifiers, say , with orange-collored undersquiggles, the less
necessary, the more undersquiggles.

Message-ID: <dn55rq$mov$1@reader2.panix.com>

   I'm sure I've seen programs that generate blather but now I
can't find one.  I'm stuck in a wierd situation that comes up often
enough:  Some third-worlders insist you write pretentious casuistry
when a few simple words are enough. It is sad in these day of "Fog
Index" that we have people who are commitedly ideological and even
theologically dogmatic about making prose incomprehensibly obfuscated
and complicated. I want it in perl so it can be extremely portable.

   However, I want something I can control. For example, when it sees
the word "customer" or "strategy" it should randomly chose one of
three flowing phrases.  I can write a simple one-to-one in sed, but I
really hope some ingenious soul has already compiled a blatherisation
table that I only need to tweak.  The issue is the text should require
no more than, say, ten percent editing to make it seem like it came
from a genuinely glib casuistrous bullshit artist.

   I wouldn't mind if the program is ingenious enough to go both ways,
or even to be adjustable (ie, "please set the fog index").  I am
confronted with enough blathermaniacs and antiblathermaniacs to make
my life way too complicated. By the time I get used to one lunatic, I
have to instead conform to the other.  

Message-ID: <do5j5i$2da$3@reader1.panix.com>

I think you could broadly generalise the most common writing styles are:

   1. Cryptic misappropriated connotation (demanded by "scholars")
   2. Telegraphic commercial (Taught by "Communications" programs)
   3. Latinate bureaucratic (demanded by 3rd world bureaucrats)
   4. Literary Synonymania (demanded by "English" professors/teachers)

   And these variances seem to be used to discriminate and segregate
dogmatically and unfairly. "Can't we just all get along?"

Message-ID: <dnvsup$p3u$1@reader1.panix.com>

   I went hunting on google for "chatterbot perl knowledge base". I
"knew" Hugh Kenner back on BiX ca 1988.  Foggy is a riot, but not what
I needed, though I think sometime it may prove valuable when 
frustration with fools triggers my evil streak.  I need foggy with a
twist - a knowledge base I can tweak like foggy, but it should take a
simple paragraph and turn it into a long blatherous paper that I can
then spend a few minutes editing and it will say pretty much the same
thing as my simple paragraph.  For example I write "The customer is a
petunia" and it writes "Our customers are very important to us. One of
our multifarous customers has proven to be a petunia. Wheretofore and
heretofore, this important,vaulabel and significant datum will be
assessed strategically and applied to our models wherefrom we shall
therefore optimise our tactics, strategy and operations so that we
fully capture the economic benefits derivable from this customer."
One form would work with a knowledge base where it is triggered by
words like customer and petunia into random but reasonably meaningful
ramblings. The other would be even better if it took a file with
writing similar to the target and transformed the source using the
target as a model (for style and size). I would really wish this was
in perl so I could use it on the fly anywhere!


nyc.transit Tue, 20 Dec 2005 23:19:28 +0000 (UTC)

   You remind me of how my folks got mistreated. They spoke with a
heavy accent but at the university level.  A lot of academics would
love to converse endlessly with their precise and inquiring minds.
Some "customer service" types would just hang up the phone when they
heard the accent. One of my English teachers couldn't get over it how
my folks had the nerve to correct her spelling.

   I was born here and once I had a boss say that the reason I
disgreed on policy issues was I needed to improve my writing since I
was Greeks and sent me to a writing class (she was Cuban and spoke
with an accent, but I don't have an accent). Once someone asked me
"You speak English so well, when did you come here" I looked at my
watch and said "Oh, about 120 yrs ago." (Technically true, though my
stowaway ancestors got sent back a month later) I once went to speak
to a dean about something and he mentioned the essence of the
conversation to a reporter and I saw in print that he described me as
a foreign student (he, too, had an accent and was foreign born). When
a previous president of my alma mater was introduced to alums, he saw
my name badge and said "Ohhhh, Greek" shaking his head knowingly as I
was seriously thinking of swatting him on the head like a fly.




				- = -
    Vasos-Peter John Panagiotopoulos II, Columbia'81+, Bio$trategist
	      BachMozart ReaganQuayle EvrytanoKastorian
       http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vjp2/vasos.htm
  ---{Nothing herein constitutes advice.  Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Remorse begets zeal] [Windows is for Bimbos] 
   [Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]



------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 06:16:36 +0000 (UTC)
From: vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com
Subject: Re: Blather-Adjusting Programs
Message-Id: <e1fhk4$5k4$1@reader1.panix.com>


Please save me. If I have to keep dealing with such warped humanoids I
will end up becomingone of them. I need a program to deal with them so
I don't have to. (Ok, the following is a spoof, but believe it or not,
they think it's real. I tried it. This is what our cities are full of.)


		   Alrophthe Xieddle Infestment Bunk
    287 Park Avenue, Suite 7589, New York, NY 10017 (212) 288-9970

   Esteemed Colleague,

     It is  our unperturbably articulated honor  to functionally offer
you  the  operationally  validated  aggregately  syndicated  solutions
position   as  our  unremunerable   chief  coordination   director  of
achievment  implementation  information  security  ability  generation
solutions  deployment  resources  identification  documentation  human
mitigations operations characterization coordinator.

     We  contingently  conflatulate you  on  achieving the  wondrously
seamless authorization qualification  for this directionally usability
articulation  technique  utilization  credential  conditional  metrics
mitigation dimensionalization  comprehensive contribution proscription
prioritization professional model development position.

     Once  you  commence  parametrization  revision  in  our  adequate
systems  registration   documentational  procedures  for  coordination
conflagration  we will  be able  to  initializationally invocationally
selectionally  embed you  in our  application  limitation relationship
redeployment   solutions  novel   destinational   accrual  correlation
derivation  technique  remunerational  emulation  execution  community
program which will heretofore promote your fragmentation, distribution
and integration into  the permanently preemptory intestinal evacuation
interface infrastructure.

      You are unable to visualize how  fortunate your are to be a part
of such a straightforward sustained dynamic degradation extraction and
incapacitation demanipulation component  of your own reconfigurational
humiliation environment innovation development program.

     You should promtly report to the utilization institutionalisation
degradation deployment limitation  destinational facilty for sustained
reconfiguration  of your  dementiation derivational  fragmentation and
further  implementational  evacuation   of  your  personal  processing
faculties and complete recursive rectal reversion.

   Berry Surly Ours,

   Obfusca Blectoglossner
   Director of Percutaneous Dememtiation




				- = -
    Vasos-Peter John Panagiotopoulos II, Columbia'81+, Bio$trategist
	      BachMozart ReaganQuayle EvrytanoKastorian
       http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vjp2/vasos.htm
  ---{Nothing herein constitutes advice.  Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Remorse begets zeal] [Windows is for Bimbos] 
   [Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]



------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 01:53:02 GMT
From: Ignoramus20015 <ignoramus20015@NOSPAM.20015.invalid>
Subject: Re: EXAMPLE -- Re: Strange issue with `CHOMP' not working...
Message-Id: <2_D_f.170258$9g7.112317@fe08.usenetserver.com>

On Mon, 10 Apr 2006 22:39:51 GMT, John W. Krahn <someone@example.com> wrote:
> Ignoramus20015 wrote:
>> OK, here's an example to illustrate my problem with chomp. 
>> 
>> To those who have not seen my original post, please see it first. 
>> 
>> The file I read has not changed in years. When I read it,I get
>> INTERMITTENT errors with chomp, they do not happen every time. 
>> 
>> This is a real life perl module that fails. 
>> 
>> The messages that I see in my errors file are something like this: 
>> 
>> Algebra::Config: BAD BAD BAD Input string after chomp but BEFORE regex: 'show_counter=yes
>> 
>> Things look even worse than that, actually, as it seems that sometimes
>> requesting a single line from a file slurps the entire file.
>
> That sounds like the $/ (Input Record Separator) global variable is being
> undefined and the value of $/ affects both readline() and chomp().  You need
> to use local() to limit the changes in $/.

Makes sense. I do not change $/ myself, ever, but perhaps some modules
that I use, do.

>> Another
>> tip, these issues pop up only a few minutes after the webserver is
>> restarted. 
>> 
>> Look for BAD BAD BAD print in the file to see where I print the error
>> message. 
>> 
>> ======================================================================
>> package Algebra::Config;
>> 
>> use strict;
>> 
>> require Exporter;
>> 
>> use vars       qw($VERSION @ISA @EXPORT @EXPORT_OK %EXPORT_TAGS);
>> 
>> @ISA = qw(Exporter);
>> @EXPORT= qw( get_config_var get_data_dir get_algebra_root );
>> @EXPORT_OK = qw( get_config_var );
>> 
>> $VERSION = 2000.0426;
>> 
>> use vars qw( $algebra_data_dir );
>> 
>> sub get_algebra_root {
>> 	my $algebra_root = $ENV{'ALGEBRA_ROOT'} || $ENV{'DOCUMENT_ROOT'}
>> 		|| die "Webmaster has to define ALGEBRA_ROOT environment variable!";
>> 	return $algebra_root;
>> 
>> }
>> 
>> sub get_config_var {
>> 	my ($category, $variable) = @_;
>> 	my $algebra_root = get_algebra_root;
>> 	my $config_file = "$algebra_root/etc/$category";
>> 	die "Config file '$config_file' does not exist or is not readable."
>> 		unless -r $config_file;
>> 	open( CONFIG, $config_file );
>
> You have die() in the wrong place.  The file permissions could be changed
> between the call to stat() and the call to open().
>
>     open CONFIG, $config_file
>         or die "Cannot open config file '$config_file' $!";

I agree, in general, but these files are static config files, they are
in CVS and do not magically appear or disappear. 

>> 	while( $_ = <CONFIG> ) {
>> 		chomp;
>> 
>>                 if( /(\n|\r)/ ) {
>>                   print STDERR "Algebra::Config: BAD BAD BAD Input string after chomp but BEFORE regex: '$_'.\n";
>>                 }
>>                 
>>                 $_ =~ s/(\n|\r)//;
>
> You are using capturing parentheses but are not using the value captured in
> $1?  Do you just want to remove either the first "\n" or the first "\r"
> character or do you want to remove all "\n" and "\r" characters?

I wanted to remove just one, maybe it is wrong, but it seemed to
correct the issue at hand (which is no longer happening after I
cleaned up this module). 

>
>> 		next if( /^\s*#/ );
>> 		next if( /^\s*$/ );
>> 		my( $key, $value ) = split( /\s*=\s*/, $_ );
>
> That will not work correctly if $_ contains more than one '=' character.

Sure, but that is not my case. 

>         my( $key, $value ) = split /\s*=\s*/, $_, 2;
>
>> 		return $value if( $key eq $variable );
>> 	}
>> 
>> 	return undef;
>
> Returning the undef value will not work correctly if this sub is called in
> list context.  Just use return with no arguments for the correct behaviour in
> any context.

Well, I call this function only in scalar context.

>
>> }
>> 
>> $algebra_data_dir = get_config_var( "general", "algebra_data_dir" )
>> 			|| $ENV{'ALGEBRA_ROOT'};
>> 
>> sub get_data_dir {
>> 	my ($category, $variable) = @_;
>> 
>> 	my $dir = get_config_var( $category, $variable );
>> 	if( !($dir =~ /^\// ) ) {
>
> Or simply:
>
>     if( $dir !~ /^\// ) {

Wow, thanks, I learned something useful today, that's so great to be
able to get rid of those ! statements. Thank you!

>> 		$dir = $algebra_data_dir . "/$dir";
>> 	}
>> 	return $dir;
>> }
>> 
>> 
>> 1;
>
>
> John



------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 04:42:05 GMT
From: merlyn@stonehenge.com (Randal Schwartz)
Subject: new CPAN modules at Tue Apr 11 2006
Message-Id: <IxJJq5.1AyM@zorch.sf-bay.org>

The following modules have recently been added to or updated in the
Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN).  You can install them using the
instructions in the 'perlmodinstall' page included with your Perl
distribution.

Apache2-AuthenDBMCache-0.01
http://search.cpan.org/~reggers/Apache2-AuthenDBMCache-0.01/
Authentication caching
----
Apache2-AuthenMSAD-0.02
http://search.cpan.org/~reggers/Apache2-AuthenMSAD-0.02/
Microsoft Active Directory authentication for Apache
----
Apache2-UploadProgress-0.1
http://search.cpan.org/~ceeshek/Apache2-UploadProgress-0.1/
Track Upload Progress
----
App-SimpleScan-Plugin-Forget-1.01
http://search.cpan.org/~mcmahon/App-SimpleScan-Plugin-Forget-1.01/
forget a variable's value
----
App-SimpleScan-Plugin-Snapshot-1.02
http://search.cpan.org/~mcmahon/App-SimpleScan-Plugin-Snapshot-1.02/
Allow tests to snapshot results
----
App-SimpleScan-Plugin-Retry-1.01
http://search.cpan.org/~mcmahon/App-SimpleScan-Plugin-Retry-1.01/
implement retry pragma/command line option
----
App-SimpleScan-Plugin-Plaintext-1.01
http://search.cpan.org/~mcmahon/App-SimpleScan-Plugin-Plaintext-1.01/
check a page's text without markup
----
App-SimpleScan-1.02
http://search.cpan.org/~mcmahon/App-SimpleScan-1.02/
simple_scan's core code
----
Filesys-Virtual-Base-0.2
http://search.cpan.org/~nnunley/Filesys-Virtual-Base-0.2/
A base class for virtual filesystems
----
DBIx-SearchBuilder-1.42
http://search.cpan.org/~jesse/DBIx-SearchBuilder-1.42/
Encapsulate SQL queries and rows in simple perl objects
----
DBIx-SearchBuilder-1.41
http://search.cpan.org/~jesse/DBIx-SearchBuilder-1.41/
Encapsulate SQL queries and rows in simple perl objects
----
ConfigReader-Simple-1.23
http://search.cpan.org/~bdfoy/ConfigReader-Simple-1.23/
Simple configuration file parser
----
Class-STL-Containers-0.11
http://search.cpan.org/~gaffie/Class-STL-Containers-0.11/
Perl extension for STL-like object management
----
B-Lint-StrictOO-0.02
http://search.cpan.org/~jjore/B-Lint-StrictOO-0.02/
Apply strict to classes and methods
----
Filesys-Virtual-Base-0.1
http://search.cpan.org/~nnunley/Filesys-Virtual-Base-0.1/
A base class for virtual filesystems
----
CGI-Expand-2.02
http://search.cpan.org/~bowmanbs/CGI-Expand-2.02/
convert flat hash to nested data using TT2's dot convention
----
RayApp-2.004
http://search.cpan.org/~janpaz/RayApp-2.004/
Framework for data-centric Web applications
----
config-model-0.504
http://search.cpan.org/~ddumont/config-model-0.504/
----
POE-Component-Win32-ChangeNotify-1.00
http://search.cpan.org/~bingos/POE-Component-Win32-ChangeNotify-1.00/
A POE wrapper around Win32::ChangeNotify.
----
Crypt-Tea_JS-2.15
http://search.cpan.org/~pjb/Crypt-Tea_JS-2.15/
The Tiny Encryption Algorithm in Perl and JavaScript
----
Set-Array-0.14
http://search.cpan.org/~rsavage/Set-Array-0.14/
Arrays as objects with lots of handy methods (including Set comparisons) and support for method chaining.
----
Lingua-AR-Word-1.5.3
http://search.cpan.org/~benazzo/Lingua-AR-Word-1.5.3/
Perl extension for getting the stem and ArabTeX encoding of Arabic words
----
POE-Component-SNMP-0.96
http://search.cpan.org/~rdb/POE-Component-SNMP-0.96/
POE interface to Net::SNMP
----
Plagger-0.6.2
http://search.cpan.org/~miyagawa/Plagger-0.6.2/
Pluggable RSS/Atom Aggregator
----
SQLite-Work-0.0501
http://search.cpan.org/~rubykat/SQLite-Work-0.0501/
report on and update an SQLite database.


If you're an author of one of these modules, please submit a detailed
announcement to comp.lang.perl.announce, and we'll pass it along.

print "Just another Perl hacker," # the original

--
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<merlyn@stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
Perl/Unix/security consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc.
See PerlTraining.Stonehenge.com for onsite and open-enrollment Perl training!


------------------------------

Date: 11 Apr 2006 07:22:05 GMT
From: tadmc@augustmail.com
Subject: Posting Guidelines for comp.lang.perl.misc ($Revision: 1.5 $)
Message-Id: <443b591c$0$61165$ae4e5890@news.nationwide.net>

Outline
   Before posting to comp.lang.perl.misc
      Must
       - Check the Perl Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
       - Check the other standard Perl docs (*.pod)
      Really Really Should
       - Lurk for a while before posting
       - Search a Usenet archive
      If You Like
       - Check Other Resources
   Posting to comp.lang.perl.misc
      Is there a better place to ask your question?
       - Question should be about Perl, not about the application area
      How to participate (post) in the clpmisc community
       - Carefully choose the contents of your Subject header
       - Use an effective followup style
       - Speak Perl rather than English, when possible
       - Ask perl to help you
       - Do not re-type Perl code
       - Provide enough information
       - Do not provide too much information
       - Do not post binaries, HTML, or MIME
      Social faux pas to avoid
       - Asking a Frequently Asked Question
       - Asking a question easily answered by a cursory doc search
       - Asking for emailed answers
       - Beware of saying "doesn't work"
       - Sending a "stealth" Cc copy
      Be extra cautious when you get upset
       - Count to ten before composing a followup when you are upset
       - Count to ten after composing and before posting when you are upset
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Posting Guidelines for comp.lang.perl.misc ($Revision: 1.5 $)
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  Must
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    The perl distribution includes documentation that is copied to your hard
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        Checking the FAQ before posting is required in Big 8 newsgroups in
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        The perl distribution comes with much more documentation than is
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    Try doing a word-search in the standard docs for some words/phrases
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  Really Really Should
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    Search a Usenet archive
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  If You Like
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    Check Other Resources
        You may want to check in books or on web sites to see if you can
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        But you need to consider the source of such information: there are a
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Posting to comp.lang.perl.misc
    There can be 200 messages in clpmisc in a single day. Nobody is going to
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  Is there a better place to ask your question?
    Question should be about Perl, not about the application area
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        You have 40 precious characters of Subject to win out and be one of
        the posts that gets read. Don't waste them. Take care while
        composing them, they are the key that opens the door to getting an
        answer.

        Spend them indicating what aspect of Perl others will find if they
        should decide to read your article.

        Do not spend them indicating "experience level" (guru, newbie...).

        Do not spend them pleading (please read, urgent, help!...).

        Do not spend them on non-Subjects (Perl question, one-word
        Subject...)

        For more information on choosing a Subject see "Choosing Good
        Subject Lines":

         http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/D/DM/DMR/subjects.post

        Part of the beauty of newsgroup dynamics, is that you can contribute
        to the community with your very first post! If your choice of
        Subject leads a fellow Perler to find the thread you are starting,
        then even asking a question helps us all.

    Use an effective followup style
        When composing a followup, quote only enough text to establish the
        context for the comments that you will add. Always indicate who
        wrote the quoted material. Never quote an entire article. Never
        quote a .signature (unless that is what you are commenting on).

        Intersperse your comments *following* each section of quoted text to
        which they relate. Unappreciated followup styles are referred to as
        "top-posting", "Jeopardy" (because the answer comes before the
        question), or "TOFU" (Text Over, Fullquote Under).

        Reversing the chronology of the dialog makes it much harder to
        understand (some folks won't even read it if written in that style).
        For more information on quoting style, see:

         http://web.presby.edu/~nnqadmin/nnq/nquote.html

    Speak Perl rather than English, when possible
        Perl is much more precise than natural language. Saying it in Perl
        instead will avoid misunderstanding your question or problem.

        Do not say: I have variable with "foo\tbar" in it.

        Instead say: I have $var = "foo\tbar", or I have $var = 'foo\tbar',
        or I have $var = <DATA> (and show the data line).

    Ask perl to help you
        You can ask perl itself to help you find common programming mistakes
        by doing two things: enable warnings (perldoc warnings) and enable
        "strict"ures (perldoc strict).

        You should not bother the hundreds/thousands of readers of the
        newsgroup without first seeing if a machine can help you find your
        problem. It is demeaning to be asked to do the work of a machine. It
        will annoy the readers of your article.

        You can look up any of the messages that perl might issue to find
        out what the message means and how to resolve the potential mistake
        (perldoc perldiag). If you would like perl to look them up for you,
        you can put "use diagnostics;" near the top of your program.

    Do not re-type Perl code
        Use copy/paste or your editor's "import" function rather than
        attempting to type in your code. If you make a typo you will get
        followups about your typos instead of about the question you are
        trying to get answered.

    Provide enough information
        If you do the things in this item, you will have an Extremely Good
        chance of getting people to try and help you with your problem!
        These features are a really big bonus toward your question winning
        out over all of the other posts that you are competing with.

        First make a short (less than 20-30 lines) and *complete* program
        that illustrates the problem you are having. People should be able
        to run your program by copy/pasting the code from your article. (You
        will find that doing this step very often reveals your problem
        directly. Leading to an answer much more quickly and reliably than
        posting to Usenet.)

        Describe *precisely* the input to your program. Also provide example
        input data for your program. If you need to show file input, use the
        __DATA__ token (perldata.pod) to provide the file contents inside of
        your Perl program.

        Show the output (including the verbatim text of any messages) of
        your program.

        Describe how you want the output to be different from what you are
        getting.

        If you have no idea at all of how to code up your situation, be sure
        to at least describe the 2 things that you *do* know: input and
        desired output.

    Do not provide too much information
        Do not just post your entire program for debugging. Most especially
        do not post someone *else's* entire program.

    Do not post binaries, HTML, or MIME
        clpmisc is a text only newsgroup. If you have images or binaries
        that explain your question, put them in a publically accessible
        place (like a Web server) and provide a pointer to that location. If
        you include code, cut and paste it directly in the message body.
        Don't attach anything to the message. Don't post vcards or HTML.
        Many people (and even some Usenet servers) will automatically filter
        out such messages. Many people will not be able to easily read your
        post. Plain text is something everyone can read.

  Social faux pas to avoid
    The first two below are symptoms of lots of FAQ asking here in clpmisc.
    It happens so often that folks will assume that it is happening yet
    again. If you have looked but not found, or found but didn't understand
    the docs, say so in your article.

    Asking a Frequently Asked Question
        It should be understood that you may have missed the applicable FAQ
        when you checked, which is not a big deal. But if the Frequently
        Asked Question is worded similar to your question, folks will assume
        that you did not look at all. Don't become indignant at pointers to
        the FAQ, particularly if it solves your problem.

    Asking a question easily answered by a cursory doc search
        If folks think you have not even tried the obvious step of reading
        the docs applicable to your problem, they are likely to become
        annoyed.

        If you are flamed for not checking when you *did* check, then just
        shrug it off (and take the answer that you got).

    Asking for emailed answers
        Emailed answers benefit one person. Posted answers benefit the
        entire community. If folks can take the time to answer your
        question, then you can take the time to go get the answer in the
        same place where you asked the question.

        It is OK to ask for a *copy* of the answer to be emailed, but many
        will ignore such requests anyway. If you munge your address, you
        should never expect (or ask) to get email in response to a Usenet
        post.

        Ask the question here, get the answer here (maybe).

    Beware of saying "doesn't work"
        This is a "red flag" phrase. If you find yourself writing that,
        pause and see if you can't describe what is not working without
        saying "doesn't work". That is, describe how it is not what you
        want.

    Sending a "stealth" Cc copy
        A "stealth Cc" is when you both email and post a reply without
        indicating *in the body* that you are doing so.

  Be extra cautious when you get upset
    Count to ten before composing a followup when you are upset
        This is recommended in all Usenet newsgroups. Here in clpmisc, most
        flaming sub-threads are not about any feature of Perl at all! They
        are most often for what was seen as a breach of netiquette. If you
        have lurked for a bit, then you will know what is expected and won't
        make such posts in the first place.

        But if you get upset, wait a while before writing your followup. I
        recommend waiting at least 30 minutes.

    Count to ten after composing and before posting when you are upset
        After you have written your followup, wait *another* 30 minutes
        before committing yourself by posting it. You cannot take it back
        once it has been said.

AUTHOR
    Tad McClellan <tadmc@augustmail.com> and many others on the
    comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup.



------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 02:53:58 +0000 (UTC)
From:  Ilya Zakharevich <nospam-abuse@ilyaz.org>
Subject: tr/// broken?
Message-Id: <e1f5o6$2lg8$1@agate.berkeley.edu>


I'm trying to use tr/// operator (instead of RExen), and do not think
it works...  The simplified example is

    >perl5.8.7 -wle "$_ = q(abcdefg); tr/\x{e000}-\x{e0ff}/ /c; print"
    UTF-16 surrogate 0xdfff at -e line 1.
    Malformed UTF-8 character (UTF-16 surrogate 0xdfff) at -e line 1.
    abcdefg

The original code contained something like

    perl5.8.7 -wle "$_ = qq(abcd\x{e155}efg);
		    tr/\x{e100}-\x{e1ff}\x00-\x{1FFFFF}/\x00-\xFF_/; print"
    Unicode character 0x1fffff is illegal at -e line 1.
    ________

That spurious warning can be worked about, but I think the behaviour
is not up to documentation; is it?

Thanks,
Ilya


------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 08:36:10 +0200
From: "Dr.Ruud" <rvtol+news@isolution.nl>
Subject: Re: utf8 filenames
Message-Id: <e1g06f.19o.1@news.isolution.nl>

> Christopher Key:

>> Is there any way to tell perl that the operand being
>> passed to -e is utf8?

See: perldoc Encode. Grok $octets.

-- 
Affijn, Ruud

"Gewoon is een tijger."



------------------------------

Date: 11 Apr 2006 07:37:51 GMT
From: anno4000@lublin.zrz.tu-berlin.de (Anno Siegel)
Subject: Re: XS progamming question
Message-Id: <4a14mfFq7depU1@news.dfncis.de>

Ilya Zakharevich  <nospam-abuse@ilyaz.org> wrote in comp.lang.perl.misc:
> [A complimentary Cc of this posting was sent to
> Ferry Bolhar
> <bol@adv.magwien.gv.at>], who wrote in article
> <1144662749.282811@proxy.dienste.wien.at>:
> > > Then your sentences should have been:
> > >
> > >   "That's true if x is a valid Anno's identifier"
> > 
> > Please add "Ferry's" in addition. Because - to go back to my initial
> > question - what is the meaning of:
> > 
> > *x = 3;
> > 
> > the "3" really doesn't look like an identifier.
> 
> This emotion of yours bears no relationship to the question of
> identifiers.  Witness
> 
>   perl -wle "BEGIN {*a = qq(\cU\cU)} $b=12; *{qq(\cU\cU)} = \$b; print $a"

I believe we should distinguish "identifiers" and "variable names" here.
As you demonstrated, any string can be a variable name in Perl, though it
takes symrefs to access them unless they are predefined.  I would still
reserve the term "identifier" for the smaller class of strings that serve
as variable names without contortions.

That is in keeping with the use of the term outside the world of Perl.
It is also in keeping with Perl's own documentation.  From the section
"Variable names" in perldata:

       Usually this name is a single identifier, that is, a
       string beginning with a letter or underscore, and
       containing letters, underscores, and digits.

       [...]

       Perl also has its own built-in variables whose names don't
       follow these rules.  They have strange names so they don't...


Anno
-- 
If you want to post a followup via groups.google.com, don't use
the broken "Reply" link at the bottom of the article.  Click on 
"show options" at the top of the article, then click on the 
"Reply" at the bottom of the article headers.


------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 08:55:39 +0000 (UTC)
From:  Ilya Zakharevich <nospam-abuse@ilyaz.org>
Subject: Re: XS progamming question
Message-Id: <e1fqub$2se0$1@agate.berkeley.edu>

[A complimentary Cc of this posting was sent to
Anno Siegel
<anno4000@lublin.zrz.tu-berlin.de>], who wrote in article <4a14mfFq7depU1@news.dfncis.de>:
> I believe we should distinguish "identifiers" and "variable names" here.

This distinction is very useful indeed.  (However, it does not relate
to the question of `what is *xx = 3', as I shown with an example.)

> It is also in keeping with Perl's own documentation. 

I would say "keeps with some parts of it".  ;-)

> From the section
> "Variable names" in perldata:
> 
>        Usually this name is a single identifier, that is, a
>        string beginning with a letter or underscore, and
>        containing letters, underscores, and digits.
> 
>        [...]
> 
>        Perl also has its own built-in variables whose names don't
>        follow these rules.  They have strange names so they don't...

Given that this is quite wrong, it is not very inviting to be keeping
with...  Many variables with one-char names are "magic" indeed; many
others are not.  So while I fully agree with the spirit of what you
say, the letter is not very agreeable.  ;-)

Yours,
Ilya


------------------------------

Date: 6 Apr 2001 21:33:47 GMT (Last modified)
From: Perl-Users-Request@ruby.oce.orst.edu (Perl-Users-Digest Admin) 
Subject: Digest Administrivia (Last modified: 6 Apr 01)
Message-Id: <null>


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