Black Perl updated for Perl 5

I suppose someone has probably already done this, but my attempt to find it in SuperSearch failed, so here goes. I have adapted Black Perl so that it compiles in Perl 5. It astonished me how few changes were necessary, and how little they disrupted the mood.

I didn't do this because I like Black Perl (the first time I read it, I thought, "how perverse"), but more because, having read that it would not compile in Perl 5, I felt... challenged. Though in retrospect, it wasn't much of a challenge. Still, here it is...

# Black Perl, adapted for Perl 5 by Jonadab.
# Adapted from Black Perl, as seen in the Camel,
# 2nd ed., p 553

BEFOREHAND: close door, each window & exit;  wait until time;
    open spell book; study; read (spell, $scan, select); tell us;
write it, print the hex while each watches,
    reverse length, write again;
           kill spiders, pop them, chop, split, kill them.
              unlink arms, shift, wait and listen (listening, wait).
sort the flock (then, warn "the goats", kill "the sheep");
    kill them, dump qualms, shift moralities,
           values aside, each one;
               die sheep; die (to, reverse the => system
                      you accept (reject, respect));
next step,
    kill next sacrifice, each sacrifice,
           wait, redo ritual until "all the spirits are pleased";
    do it ("as they say").
do it(*everyone***must***participate***in***forbidden**s*e*x*).
return last victim; package body;
    exit crypt (time, times & "half a time") & close it.
           select (quickly) and warn next victim;
AFTERWARDS: tell nobody.
    wait, wait until time;
           wait until next year, next decade;
               sleep, sleep, die yourself,
                      die @last
[download]

So now it compiles in Perl 5 (tested with 5.6.1), but it still doesn't do anything useful. (I think I'm glad.) I suppose, having taken this step, it is inevitable that someone will also port it to Perl 6, in time. As an interesting side note, if you change $scan back to scan (as in the original) it compiles but dumps core. Maybe I should have left it that way.

sub H{$_=shift;while($_){$c=0;while(s/^2//){$c++;}s/^4//;$
v.=(' ','|','_',"\n",'\\','/')[$c]}$v}sub A{$_=shift;while
($_){$d=hex chop;for(1..4){$pl.=($d%2)?4:2;$d>>=1}}$pl}$H=
"16f6da116f6db14b4b0906c4f324";print H(A($H)) # -- jonadab
[download]

Comment on Black Perl updated for Perl 5 Select or Download Code

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Re: Black Perl updated for Perl 5 by hv (Prior) on Feb 21, 2003 at 16:12 UTC
Very cool. The `scan` version no longer dumps core in 5.8.0, instead giving: `Can't modify constant item in read at poem line 2, near "select)"` [download] but I'm not sure how to avoid it without the '$'. As written, though you can now lose the parens on read(), and combine: `... read spell, $scan, select and tell us;` [download] Hugo	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Black Perl updated for Perl 5 by Mr. Muskrat (Canon) on Feb 21, 2003 at 15:59 UTC
As an interesting side note, if you change $scan back to scan (as in the original) it compiles but dumps core. Maybe I should have left it that way. Yes, it should have been left that way. If you are going to dabble in "Black Perl" then you should expect bad things (like core dumps) to happen. ;)	[reply]
Re: Black Perl updated for Perl 5 by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Feb 21, 2003 at 16:07 UTC
You didn't use `use strict; use warnings; use CGI;` [download] Abigail	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Black Perl updated for Perl 5 by mowgli (Friar) on Feb 22, 2003 at 10:29 UTC
Sweet! Really, really sweet. Black Perl's been one of my favourite Perl poems ever since I first read it... -- mowgli	[reply]
Re: Black Perl updated for Perl 5 by kiz (Monk) on Sep 24, 2012 at 10:16 UTC
Still compiles inder¹ 5.14 .... but runs best as `perl -X black_perl` :D (1) inder a cross between in and under, as it "it compiles in/under perl" -- Ian Stuart A man depriving some poor village, somewhere, of a first-class idiot.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Black Perl updated for Perl 5 by Anonymous Monk on Sep 12, 2013 at 11:13 UTC
Not without the -X flag it doesn't: Hash %window missing the % in argument 1 of each() at black.pl line 1. Hash %watches missing the % in argument 1 of each() at black.pl line 3 +. Array @them missing the @ in argument 1 of pop() at black.pl line 5. Array @moralities missing the @ in argument 1 of shift() at black.pl l +ine 8. Hash %aside missing the % in argument 1 of values() at black.pl line 9 +. Hash %one missing the % in argument 1 of each() at black.pl line 9. Hash %sacrifice missing the % in argument 1 of each() at black.pl line + 13. Use of "do" to call subroutines is deprecated at black.pl line 15. Use of "do" to call subroutines is deprecated at black.pl line 16. [download] With -X it does compile fine though: `# perl -X -c black.pl black.pl syntax OK` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Black Perl updated for Perl 5 by Anonymous Monk on Jul 27, 2016 at 02:20 UTC
I've managed to get Black Perl to run without warnings under Perl 5.20; but 5.22 seems to kill it. Here's my 5.20 version: no warnings; BEFOREHAND: close door, each window & exit; wait until time. open spellbook, study, select it, confess, tell, deny; write it, print the hex while each watches, reverse "its length", write again; kill spiders, pop them, chop, split, kill them. unlink arms, shift, wait & listen (listening, wait), sort the flock (then, warn "the goats". kill "the sheep"); kill them, dump qualms, shift moralities, values aside, each one; die sheep, die, reverse system you accept (reject, respect); next step, kill next sacrifice, each sacrifice, wait, redo ritual until "all the spirits are pleased"; do it, "as they say". everyonemustparticipateinforbiddensex. return last victim; package body; exit crypt (time, times & "half a time") & close it, select (quickly) & warn next victim; AFTERWARDS: tell nobody. wait, wait until time; wait until next year, next decade; sleep, sleep, die yourself and rest at last [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Black Perl updated for Perl 5 by kck (Initiate) on Feb 07, 2017 at 16:29 UTC
Found my variation in some backups recently. Refreshed for 5.20 and sharing for the fun of it. #!/usr/bin/env perl no warnings; BEFOREHAND: close door, each window & exit; wait until time. open spellbook, study, read (scan, $elect, tell us); write it, print the hex while each watches, reverse its, length, write, again; kill spiders, pop them, chop, split, kill them. unlink arms, shift, wait & listen (listening, wait), sort the flock (then, warn "the goats" & kill "the sheep"); kill them, dump qualms, shift moralities, values aside, each one; die sheep? die to : reverse { the => system ( you accept (reject, respect) ) }; next step, kill `the next sacrifice`, each sacrifice, wait, redo ritual until "all the spirits are pleased"; do { it => "as they say" }. do { it => (everyonemustparticipateinforbiddensex) + }. return last victim; package body; exit crypt (time, times & "half a time") & close it, select (quickly) & warn your (next victim); AFTERWARDS: tell nobody. wait, wait until time; wait until next year, next decade; sleep, sleep, die yourself, die @last [download]	[reply] [d/l]

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