my $a;
$a = "Mary had a little lamb"; # $a contains a string
$a = 2001;                     # $a now contains a number
$a = '2001';                   # $a STILL contains a number
$a .= 'AD';                    # $a is a string once more :)

##</code><code>##

print pack("i", 3000);
¨Y¡á
print pack("i", '3000');
¨Y¡á
print pack("i", "3000");
¨Y¡á

##</code><code>##

my $data = Data->new("aa", 65, 1.2, "misc", "data string");
print $data->print_secs();

package Data;

sub new {
    my ($class, $id, $secs, $vers, $misc, $data) = @_;

    my $self = {
        'id' => $id,
        'secs' => $secs,
        'version' => $vers,
        'misc' => $misc,
        'data' => $data,
    };

    bless $self, $class;

    return $self;
}

sub print_secs { # Returns $self->{'secs'} as a byte stream
    $self = shift;

    return pack('i', $self->{'secs'});
}