Perl is evil

What other language would let you do this?

    ''=~(        '(?{'        .('`'        |'%')        .('['        ^'-')
    .('`'        |'!')        .('`'        |',')        .'"'.        '\\$'
    .'=='        .('['        ^'+')        .('`'        |'/')        .('['
    ^'+')        .'||'        .(';'        &'=')        .(';'        &'=')
    .';-'        .'-'.        '\\$'        .'=;'        .('['        ^'(')
    .('['        ^'.')        .('`'        |'"')        .('!'        ^'+')
   .'_\\{'      .'(\\$'      .';=('.      '\\$=|'      ."\|".(      '`'^'.'
  ).(('`')|    '/').').'    .'\\"'.+(    '{'^'[').    ('`'|'"')    .('`'|'/'
 ).('['^'/')  .('['^'/').  ('`'|',').(  '`'|('%')).  '\\".\\"'.(  '['^('(')).
 '\\"'.('['^  '#').'!!--'  .'\\$=.\\"'  .('{'^'[').  ('`'|'/').(  '`'|"\&").(
 '{'^"\[").(  '`'|"\"").(  '`'|"\%").(  '`'|"\%").(  '['^(')')).  '\\").\\"'.
 ('{'^'[').(  '`'|"\/").(  '`'|"\.").(  '{'^"\[").(  '['^"\/").(  '`'|"\(").(
 '`'|"\%").(  '{'^"\[").(  '['^"\,").(  '`'|"\!").(  '`'|"\,").(  '`'|(',')).
 '\\"\\}'.+(  '['^"\+").(  '['^"\)").(  '`'|"\)").(  '`'|"\.").(  '['^('/')).
 '+_,\\",'.(  '{'^('[')).  ('\\$;!').(  '!'^"\+").(  '{'^"\/").(  '`'|"\!").(
 '`'|"\+").(  '`'|"\%").(  '{'^"\[").(  '`'|"\/").(  '`'|"\.").(  '`'|"\%").(
 '{'^"\[").(  '`'|"\$").(  '`'|"\/").(  '['^"\,").(  '`'|('.')).  ','.(('{')^
 '[').("\["^  '+').("\`"|  '!').("\["^  '(').("\["^  '(').("\{"^  '[').("\`"|
 ')').("\["^  '/').("\{"^  '[').("\`"|  '!').("\["^  ')').("\`"|  '/').("\["^
 '.').("\`"|  '.').("\`"|  '$')."\,".(  '!'^('+')).  '\\",_,\\"'  .'!'.("\!"^
 '+').("\!"^  '+').'\\"'.  ('['^',').(  '`'|"\(").(  '`'|"\)").(  '`'|"\,").(
 '`'|('%')).  '++\\$="})'  );$:=('.')^  '~';$~='@'|  '(';$^=')'^  '[';$/='`';

(from 99 Bottles of Beer).

Yes, this is a valid Perl program! Paste it into a text file and run it – don’t worry, it won’t nuke all your files.

A work of art. A completely and utterly unmaintainable work of art.

Sick.

Learning Perl, Fourth Edition

5 comments to Perl is evil

  • That is totally sick! I am not a perl fan, but man that rocks!

  • What comes up? Can we get a screen capture???

  • You can take any program and paint it into any shape using Acme::Eyedrops from the CPAN. So, this wasn’t that hard to do, once someone had already done the hard part. :)

  • I can’t believe that works.

  • Alpheus

    This is impressive, in a sick sort of way. There are those who believe that this shows the power of Perl, to which I would have to say: Brainf*** must be a powerful language, too! but I’m not going to use it any time soon (for any serious work, at least…).

Leave a Reply

 

 

 

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>