sub steal_a_file_from_our_isp_that_charges_for_downstream_net_bytes_only { my ($some_kind_of_uri) = @_; my @buffer; my $location = 0; while ( 'true' ) { my $done = 0; for my $val (0..255) { #-- 0..255: use a list with values sorted by highest probability # first for an incredible speed boost my $resp = query_server_if_byte_at_location_has_value($some_kind_of_uri, $location++, $val); next if $resp eq 'timeout'; return @buffer if $resp eq 'eof'; push @buffer, $val; $done=1; last; } $location-- unless $done; # 256 timeouts, so the response was lost and we need to retry } }