sub send {
   my $self = shift || return 0;
   return 0 unless ref $self;
   unless (@_ == 3) {
      $self->{ERROR}->set(ILL_NUM);
      return 0;
   }
   my $sock;
   ($sock, $self->{COMMAND}, $self->{CONTENT}) = @_;
   $self->{ERROR}->set(ILL_ARG1) if ref $self->{COMMAND};
   $self->{ERROR}->set(ILL_ARG2) unless ref $self->{CONTENT};
   return 0 if $self->{ERROR}->get;

   $self->{CONTENT} = freeze $self->{CONTENT};

   # COMMANDSIZE is what SOBJCOMMAND was for the caller,
   # CONTENTSIZE refers to SOBJCONTENT in this example (just
   # a primitive protocol)
   my $str = sprintf("%".$self->{COMMANDSIZE}."s", $self->{COMMAND}) .
                sprintf("%0".$self->{CONTENTSIZE}."d", CORE::length($self->{CONTENT})) .
             $self->{CONTENT};
   local $\ = undef; # the magic
   unless ($sock->send($str)) {
      $self->{ERROR}->set(SOCK_SEND, $!);
      return 0;
   }
   1;
}