I stumbled across Dice::Simple and RPG::Dice in the code section, and it reminded me of a Pascal program I wrote back in the early '90s for a class. A typical calculator assignment, that I later tweaked for RPG use. I'd love to port it to Perl, but because of the syntax I can't cheat and use eval() like the aforementioned modules. Attached is the help doc as well as a few run examples. Should I change the syntax, or what's a good starting point other than brute-force character-by-character parsing as I did originally? 
Help Doc:
----------------------------
Key:
n = number (integers only)
l = list (of anything)
ln = list of numbers
exp = expression (i.e. any valid expression)

Operators:
+,-,/,*     Integer math only
d           ex. n1dn2 = Roll a n2 sided die n1 times and
            sum the results.
@[]         ex. n@[expr] = evaluate expr n times and put 
            the results in a list.
<,>         Selectors.  ex. n1>ln = select the greatest
            n1 items from the list ln.
&           ex. &ln = sum the numbers in the list ln.

Default order of prececence, highest to lowest:
()'s
d
*,/
+,-
@
>,<
&

Examples:  3d6        ! Returns a value 3 to 18.
           (1d4)d20   ! Rolls a 20 sided die 1 to 4 times
                        and sums the results.
           6@[3d6]    ! Returns 6 values of 3 to 18 in a
                        list.
           6>12@[3d6] ! Returns the best 6 of 12 3d6's in
                        a list.
           6@[&3>4@[(1d5)+1]] ! Equivelant to the ol'
                        "Roll 6 stats -- 4d6, re-roll
                        1's, drop the lowest die."

Note that n1dn2 is logically equivelant to &n1@[1dn2]
----------------------------
Sample output:
----------------------------
Command: 3d6
Value: 9
Command: 3d6
Value: 10
Command: 6@[3d6]
 ( 14 13 11 13 9 13)
Command: 6@[3d6]
 ( 7 11 15 17 7 7)
Command: 6@[&3>4@[(1d5)+1]]
 ( 14 12 15 12 10 11)
Command: 6@[&3>4@[(1d5)+1]]
 ( 16 15 12 14 16 14)
Command: 4@[6@[3d6]]
 (
  ( 13 8 6 9 4 12)
  ( 13 7 9 10 11 9)
  ( 9 12 10 9 13 13)
  ( 10 8 9 7 7 12)
 )
Command: X = 3d6
Symbol "X" created.
Value: 0
Command: 4@[X]
 ( 10 12 14 9)
Command: X<20@[X]
 ( 6 7 7 7 8 9 9 10 10 10 11 11 11 12 12)
Command: X<20@[X]
 ( 4 5 7 7)
----------------------------

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In reply to Dice calcs? by Anonymous Monk

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