Any algorithim implemented in the PerlApp executable could be reverse-engineered by a competent cracker with a low-level debugger, probably in a matter of hours, because PerlApp must decrypt the cyphertext into plaintext in order to execute it. ActiveState decided to keep it simple, and obscured things from the view of a casual user. It wouldn't make much difference either way, except that in the former case, chinman would have had a much harder time restoring his original source.

   MeowChow                                   
               s aamecha.s a..a\u$&owag.print