A satirical look at Perl's reputation for being write-only code, featuring a BBspot news story about high school students failing to interpret obfuscated DeCSS programs during standardized testing.
I prefer Perl over Python for data processing, relying on it for over a decade to handle large datasets where Access and SPSS failed. Using Perl with Excel and CPAN provides all the data analysis power I need.
This is a personal homage to Perl as the language that shaped the author’s early technical life, even though Python eventually replaced it in practice.
I found an inspired collection of haikus describing the DeCSS algorithm. They offer a creative way to express the DVD decryption code, highlighting the intersection of technical functionality, free speech, and early digital rights management legalities.
I'm noting that a California court ruled the distribution of DeCSS is protected speech. This preliminary decision suggests that DVD decryption code may be legally shared despite trade secret and DMCA challenges regarding copy protection.
I share my reaction to Microsoft dropping Java support in favor of Perl. As a dedicated Perl fan who never found much use for Java, I'm untroubled by this shift in Microsoft's language adoption strategy.