Personally, I don't know if I wouldn't have done the same thing. Not to say it makes any sense, but I'd simply look at a keyboard and say...

Yup... '@' befre '#' before '$' ...

It all makes sense after you do this:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

print "$_\n" for ( sort qw( a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 
+v w x y z
                            A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U 
+V W X Y Z
                            1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
                            ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ +
                            ` - = [ ] \ ; ' , . /
                            < > ? : " { } |
                  ) );
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And then look immediately at a keyboard. You'll be saying:

Yup...