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Junkyard Wars, Perl Style

by dws (Chancellor)
on May 09, 2001 at 10:37 UTC ( [id://79027]=perlmeditation: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

You have access to:
  • One network connected laptop, running an OS of your choice, Perl 5.6.1, and whatever you care to download and install.
  • One WebCam, with a 25' cable.
  • The following parts from an X10 Home Automation Kit:
    • PC Interface
    • 2 Appliance modules
    • 2 Motion detectors
  • An aquarium pump with 25' of tubing.
  • Whatever you can scrounge from your kitchen right now, including appliances (honor system applies)
  • A tennis ball and 25 feet of twine.
  • 2 1' Bungie cords
  • One roll of Duct tape
You have 1 hour day to construct a device to delight and amuse us (or any housepets you might have).

Judges are standing by to hear your device explained. Source code is not required. Votes will be alloted according to the whims of the studio audience.

Go!


bob so how do we hook up the X-10 stuff to Perl?
dave there were two articles in TPJ a while back...
bob yeah, but they're not online right now.
dave drat. well, there's the MisterHouse stuff. we can probably lift some working Perl code from there.
bob good idea. the stuff we need should be out on CPAN. i'll start installing while you check the kitchen for interesting appliances.
dave hm.. crock pot, carving knive, blender, ...
bob blender? that gives me an idea. i wonder if this laptop has a microphone.
dave ... microwave oven

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
007 fork (Re: Junkyard Wars, Perl Style)
by larsen (Parson) on May 09, 2001 at 11:37 UTC
    Reading this node, my first thought was "We definitely spent too much time in a Monastery" :). Then, this thought has been completely eclipsed by a second one.

    Scenario: A Zen Monastery in Tibet.
    Mission: Escape from the Monastery.
    Equipment I need a Ian Fleming wanna-be with a Mr.Q demeanor to write down a funny list of weird stuff including a Perl interpreter
    Soundtrack: Nodereaper, of course

Re: Junkyard Wars, Perl Style
by mincus (Chaplain) on May 09, 2001 at 18:19 UTC
    Awesome idea!

    Maybe we could do something like this as well

    You have--
    1. one array
    2. 3 scalers
    3. 1 for loop
    4. 3 hours
    5. ...

    to do task X. And you would only be allowed to use that in code, and nothing else... you could even go as far as to say how many  { } and semicolons... dunno, just a thought.

    UPDATE: Added elipse so show that list was not conclusive. Wiseguys ;)


    .mincus
    telnet://bbs.mincus.com

      You don't get any assignments? Or regexen? Or equivalence tests? Or push, pop, shift or unshift? Or even just a weensy concatenation? And no print statements or inputs? Good grief...
      my @x; # The array my ($a,$b,$c); # The scalars for ($a,@x,$b,@x,$c,@x) { }
Re: Junkyard Wars, Perl Style
by djw (Vicar) on May 09, 2001 at 17:59 UTC
    Oh my god, this is such a wicked idea! I wish I had an X10 Home Automation Kit, or maybe the Lego Mindstorm kit....er, or an equarium pump.....

    I hope someone does something with this! I know fastolfe did some neat stuff with a mindstorm kit and one of this webcam's on his webpage.

    Wicked idea,
    djw
Re: Junkyard Wars, Perl Style
by Masem (Monsignor) on May 10, 2001 at 06:51 UTC
    While not exactly what was proposed here, another possible idea in the vein of perl golf is to have people solve a problem, using a fixed number of variables or functions. Eg: "Write a sort subrouting without using the sort function, and only one temporary variable." (I dunno if this can be done, I only offer it as an example of what can be done). Maybe call it "Junkyard Perl" or the like. (This is similar to a suggestion above, but making it a bit more explicit.)


    Dr. Michael K. Neylon - mneylon-pm@masemware.com || "You've left the lens cap of your mind on again, Pinky" - The Brain
Re: Junkyard Wars, Perl Style
by cacharbe (Curate) on May 10, 2001 at 00:16 UTC
    hmmm. Here's something, anyway:

    http://www.pcola.gulf.net/~gswann/x10/x10.html

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