brew install pkg-config

brew install libpng
pkg-config --cflags libpng
cpan Imager::File::PNG

brew install jpeg
pkg-config --cflags libjpeg
cpan Imager::File::JPEG

brew install giflib
cpan Imager::File::GIF

GIF: Test code failed: Can't link/include 'gif_lib.h', 'stdio.h', 'errno.h', 'string.h', 'gif'...
! Configure failed for Imager-File-GIF-0.98. See /Users/you/.cpanm/work/1713652269.80239/build.log for details.

cd /Users/you/.cpanm/work/1713652269.80239/Imager-File-GIF-0.98

perl Makefile.PL -v --incpath=/opt/homebrew/include --libpath=/opt/homebrew/var/homebrew/linked/giflib/lib

make
make test
make install

o conf makepl_arg "LIBS=-L/opt/homebrew/var/homebrew/linked/giflib/lib INC=-I/opt/homebrew/include"

sudo /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb

locate giflib
/opt/homebrew/var/homebrew/linked/giflib

locate gif_lib.h        
/opt/homebrew/Cellar/giflib/5.2.1/include/gif_lib.h
/opt/homebrew/include/gif_lib.h

cpan -M https://www.cpan.org -a
[download]

Task 2: Submatrix Sum
Submitted by: Jorg Sommrey

You are given a NxM matrix A of integers.

Write a script to construct a (N-1)x(M-1) matrix B 
having elements that are the sum over the 2x2 submatrices of A,

b[i,k] = a[i,k] + a[i,k+1] + a[i+1,k] + a[i+1,k+1]


Example 1

Input: $a = [
              [1,  2,  3,  4],
              [5,  6,  7,  8],
              [9, 10, 11, 12]
            ]

Output: $b = [
               [14, 18, 22],
               [30, 34, 38]
             ]
[download]

I tried to crank it up for entertainment -- to solve not "2x2", but arbitrary "WxH" sub-matrices of (relatively) large matrices. Sadly, it was too late into many stupid plots and tables, when I realized, that excessive summation isn't required at all. Sliding (moving) sum (or average, min/max, etc.) is a well known concept -- duh! not to un-educated me, alas. And so maybe "2x2", not "WxH", in the task, was selected not only because PWC tries to accommodate new learners. Anyway, I implemented "sliding submatrix sums" algorithm only at a later stage, in PDL, and didn't "backport" it to pure Perl (nor Pdlpp) because had already been somewhat fed-up with this 248-2, but decided to present sanitized results as a meditation.

Disclaimer: it's clickbait. The plot is curved, solution isn't linear, despite lack of nested loops, -- but fast.

Task 2: Group Hero
Submitted by: Mohammad S Anwar

You are given an array of integers representing the strength.

Write a script to return the sum of the powers of all possible 
combinations; power is defined as the square of the largest number 
in a sequence, multiplied by the smallest.

Example 1

Input: @nums = (2, 1, 4)
Output: 141

Group 1: (2) => square(max(2)) * min(2) => 4 * 2 => 8
Group 2: (1) => square(max(1)) * min(1) => 1 * 1 => 1
Group 3: (4) => square(max(4)) * min(4) => 16 * 4 => 64
Group 4: (2,1) => square(max(2,1)) * min(2,1) => 4 * 1 => 4
Group 5: (2,4) => square(max(2,4)) * min(2,4) => 16 * 2 => 32
Group 6: (1,4) => square(max(1,4)) * min(1,4) => 16 * 1 => 16
Group 7: (2,1,4) => square(max(2,1,4)) * min(2,1,4) => 16 * 1 => 16

Sum: 8 + 1 + 64 + 4 + 32 + 16 + 16 => 141

1. They spelled it: PERL
2. Raptors are extinct.
3. Raw onions? C'mon!

I want cool cryptic, like Perl itself:

$Perl->{5.36}

Obviously: camel code

sub setpixel {
  my ($self, %opts) = @_;

#  $self->_valid_image("setpixel") or return;

  my $color = $opts{color};
  unless (defined $color) {
    $color = $self->{fg};
    defined $color or $color = NC(255, 255, 255);
  }

#  unless (ref $color && UNIVERSAL::isa($color, "Imager::Color")) {
#    unless ($color = _color($color, 'setpixel')) {
#      $self->_set_error("setpixel: " . Imager->errstr);
#      return;
#    }
#  }

  unless (exists $opts{'x'} && exists $opts{'y'}) {
    $self->_set_error('setpixel: missing x or y parameter');
    return;
  }
...
}

sub _valid_image {
  my ($self, $method) = @_;
 
  ref $self
    or return Imager->_set_error("$method needs an image object");
 
  $self->{IMG} && Scalar::Util::blessed($self->{IMG}) and return 1;
 
  my $msg = $self->{IMG} ? "images do not cross threads" : "empty inpu
+t image";
  $msg = "$method: $msg" if $method;
  $self->_set_error($msg);
 
  return;
}
[download]

https://web.archive.org/web/20220930101235/https://metacpan.org/pod/strict

close the wayback popup. Try the hamburger menu (3 lines). Its all so dark. And takes up much space on mobile.

use strict;
use warnings;
use List::Util qw(max sample);
#use lib '/usr/local/share/perl/5.30.0';
#use Statistics::Basic::Stddev; #installs somewhere??
#use Statistics::Basic::StdDev;
use Statistics::Basic qw(:all);
use File::Slurp; #for large list of real randoms

my @rands = read_file('../stats/bytes37Mb.txt');
my ($fertilewomen) = @ARGV;
my @maxxes;
my $cyclelength = 32;
#my $duration = int(rand(1) + 0.5) == 1 ? 4 : 5;
#my $duration = sample 1, (4, 5);
$fertilewomen ||= 48;
#print "duration is $duration\n";
#my @women;

#for (1..100) {
    my @women;

#    for (1..48) {
    for (1..$fertilewomen) {    
#        my $start = int(rand(31) + 0.5);
#        my $start = int(rand($cyclelength-1) + 0.5);
#        my $start = int(rand($cyclelength));
        my $start = getrandom($_);
    #    print "$start\n";
#        my $range;
#        my $turnover = $cyclelength - $duration;
#        if ($start > 28) {    
#        if ($start > $turnover) {
#            if ($start == 29) {
#            if ($start == $turnover+1) {
#                $range = [$start, $start+1,  $start+2, 0];
#            } elsif ($start == 30) {
#            } elsif ($start == $turnover+2) {            
#                $range = [$start, $start+1,  0, 1];
#            } else {
#                $range = [$start, 0, 1, 2];
#            }
#        } else {
#            $range = [$start..$start+3];
#        }
#        push @women, $range;
#        my $duration = sample 1, (4, 5);
        my $duration = 4;
        push @women, $start..($start+$duration-1);
    }

    my %count;
    my %mcount;
    
    for my $woman (@women) {
#        my @range = @{$woman};
#        for (@range) {
#            my $moduluscyclelength = $_ % $cyclelength;
        my $moduluscyclelength = ($woman % $cyclelength);
#print $moduluscyclelength, ' ', $woman, ' ', $cyclelength, "\n";
#            $count{$_}++;            
        $mcount{$moduluscyclelength}++;
#        $count{$woman}++;
#        }
    }

    my %occupancy;

#    for (0..31) {
    for (0..$cyclelength-1) {
#        my $value = exists $count{$_} ? $count{$_} : 0;
        my $mvalue = exists $mcount{$_} ? $mcount{$_} : 0;
#        $occupancy{$_} = $value;
        print "$_ $mvalue\n";        
#        print "$_ $value $mvalue\n";
    }

#    print 'mean is ', mean(values %count), "\n";
#    print 'sd is ', stddev(values %count), "\n";
#    my %ostats;

#    for (values %occupancy) {
#        $ostats{$_}++;
#    }

#    for (sort { $a <=> $b } keys %ostats) {
##        print $_, ' ', $ostats{$_}, "\n";
#    }

#    push @maxxes, max(keys %ostats);
#}

#print join ' ', sort { $a <=> $b } @maxxes;

sub getrandom {
    my $index = shift;
    my $byte = $rands[$index];
    chomp $byte;
    return int($byte/8);
}
[download]

Yes, I know this is not a place to rant, nor is this place to talk bad about other languages, but heck, I am going to rant anyways....

So I started my scripting journey (short and irregular) with Perl. It enabled me to write scripts pretty fast with least knowledge of the language in particular and programming in general. Job requirements made me take a long break from Perl and Scripting. I started learning Python, not because I had to write scripts, but to "check mark" a training requirement. It's a good language, nothing against it. I was happy on the learning journey, until a requirement came up to automate some alerts and that is when my troubles started.

The client for which I was to do the automation has strict internet access policies, so no access to the internet from the servers used for environment management. Also, no admin access. I had promised to automate some stuff (my bad, I should have first checked the requirements). Python would not install, not even within the directories for my account. I was at wit's end. I tried downloading again thinking may be the file got corrupted, but same result. My colleague managed to install it for his servers (different client) but kept getting errors while trying to send out emails. So we both were kind of upset and pissed off.

And then I remembered, Strawberry Perl. Downloaded it, pushed the installer to the servers (Yes, I again had to raise a request for that as well, and no they would not allow any special permissions). To my amazement, it installed without any errors!!. And every conceivable module I wanted was there!!

This was two days ago...just now finished writing the scripts, sent a test email to myself, then sent it to the required DL Email. Informed my manager and the concerned client folks and they were all happy!!

Now for my colleague, he too installed the same, I helped him out with the scripts, and I dunnowhathappened, but the emails just worked with Perl. Yeah this sounds stupid, but it didnt work with Python, but , it worked with Perl!!

Also I found that, for Perl, there are two kind of Email Modules, Ones that "create"/"format" Email and the others you use to "send" emails. Some modules may have both, and I could be wrong, but what I really liked is the modularity given here.

May be I did something wrong while trying to install Python, may be not, I am not sure. May be I was stupid. But, end of the day, it was Perl that saved the day.

So thank you Perl, Thank you Perl Developers and especially Strawberry Perl Team for saving the day.

Rant Over.