The use VERSION says that the perl running the code must be at least that version and enables the bundle of features recommended for that version. For 5.10, this is bareword_filehandles, indirect, multidimensional, say, state, and switch. See feature for details.
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A math joke: r = | |csc(θ)|+|sec(θ)| |-| |csc(θ)|-|sec(θ)| |