# The Ant # by Ogden Nash # The ant has made himself illustrious # Through constant industry industrious # So what? # Would you be calm and placid # If you were full of formic acid? sub ant { bless \my $self } # Some setup. sub make { $self = shift; # through constant industry industrious use constant INDUSTRY => 'industrious'; $$self = INDUSTRY; $$self =~ s/nd/ll/; # industrious is now illustrious bless $self; } $ant = ant(); # More setup. (We need an ant.) $ant->make(); # The Ant has made himself illustrious [see make()] if (0 or 1) { # So What? # would you be 'calm and placid' if you were full of # formic acid? (The rand leaves it a question.) $you = ($you=~/^(formic acid)+$/ and int rand 2) ? 'calm and placid' : ''; }