Now I wouldn't go as far as suggesting to teach perl via golf. A good perl golf usually is an end result of knowing where whitespace isn't needed and taking advantage of perl's special variables outside of $_ and @_.

Mind you, showing a de-obfu golf program (with white space expands and variables named right) and the associated C/C++/Java solution may be useful. Or better yet, show the true power of list processing by comparing the Schwatzian TRansformation vs the equivalent in C. In perl, it's 3 simple lines vs much more than in most other languages.

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Dr. Michael K. Neylon - mneylon-pm@masemware.com || "You've left the lens cap of your mind on again, Pinky" - The Brain
It's not what you know, but knowing how to find it if you don't know that's important