I believe that qw// no longer use split in 5.6. Instead, it's using the comma-operator. As a result, you are just trying to assign a list to a scalar. Thus, $_ will just hold 'nothing' and the answer for part c is "In the beginning there was alpha, in the end there will be omega."

Disclaimer: I don't have 5.6 installed, so the above is pure speculation. Pls correct me if I'm wrong. : )