Excellent question. To make the long story short, all test code in our labs (including my perl code) is required to use some machine-generated C code at specified points -- no substitutions or translations are allowed. I will use anything that allows me to do so, and have looked at the options of Inline(X), XS, SWIG, and others. The tight schedule and high risk do not allow me to go in and learn everything the way I should (and would like to), so Inline sounded like the way to go. Alternative suggestions will be gratefully accepted.