use strict;
use IO::Socket::INET;
use IO::Select;

my $sock = IO::Socket::INET->new(PeerAddr => "localhost:4455");

print $sock "Pid $$\n"; # the init string, used as a 'name' for this client, you may want something more descriptive/informative etc.

my $select = IO::Select->new($sock);
my $i = 0;
for(;;) { #main loop
    unless(int(rand(5))) {
        my $msg = "It has been $i iterations since I last sent something\n";
        print "Sending message: $msg";
        print $sock $msg;
        $i=0;
    }
    if($select->can_read(0)) { #could capture sockets, but there is only one
        die "observer gone\n" if $sock->eof();
        print "Got a message:\n  ".<$sock>;
    }
    $i++;
    sleep 1;
}