I actually wrote about this a few days ago in my journal at use.perl.org - In reply to this, tex supplied some very informative links, namely:

• http://stason.org/TULARC/webmaster/myfaq.html#7
• http://www.viaverio.com/support/virtual/perl/mod/install.cfm

 

perl -le 'print+unpack("N",pack("B32","00000000000000000000001000101010"))'