#!/usr/bin/perl -W

  # Takes a number between 0 and 2^32,
  # returns 4 characters (ASCII).
sub num_to_chars  
{
my $packed = pack( "l", $_[0] );
return unpack( "A*", $packed );
}

  # Takes 4 ASCII chars, returns a "long"
sub chars_to_num
{
my $chars = pack( "A*", $_[0] );
return unpack( "l", $chars );
}