Here's a quick program that I threw together for a teacher friend, with three intended purposes:

1. Provide a working ASCII to binary translator as a teaching aid.
2. Show that the algorithm taught in-class actually works in practice.
3. Demonstrate, programming-wise, the implementation of a known algorithm.

for (;;) {

  print "Enter a character or word: ";
  chomp($input = <STDIN>);

  exit unless $input;
   
  @chars = split ('',$input);
  foreach ( @chars ) {
      
     $dec = unpack("c",$_);
      
     if ($dec >= 128) {$dec -= 128; $bin[0] = 1} else {$bin[0] = 0;}
     if ($dec >= 64) {$dec -= 64; $bin[1] = 1} else {$bin[1] = 0;}
     if ($dec >= 32) {$dec -= 32; $bin[2] = 1} else {$bin[2] = 0;} 
     if ($dec >= 16) {$dec -= 16; $bin[3] = 1} else {$bin[3] = 0;} 
     if ($dec >= 8) {$dec -= 8; $bin[4] = 1} else {$bin[4] = 0;} 
     if ($dec >= 4) {$dec -= 4; $bin[5] = 1} else {$bin[5] = 0;} 
     if ($dec >= 2) {$dec -= 2; $bin[6] = 1} else {$bin[6] = 0;} 
     if ($dec == 1) {$dec -= 1; $bin[7] = 1} else {$bin[7] = 0;} 
     
     print "$_: " . join('',@bin) . "\n";
  
  }
   
}

[download]

Spacewarp

DISCLAIMER:
Use of this advanced computing technology does not imply an endorsement
of Western industrial civilization.

In reply to Perl as a teaching aid by spacewarp

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