I agree that a simple

print "hello, world";
[download]

has very little merit.

In and of itself, JAPHs don't really do a whole hellovalot.

However, they demonstrate perl functionality in a very tight manner. Call it the Reader's Digest Abridged Version of perl.

Also, if those more knowledgeable about perl respond with a "better" way of doing a JAPH (or anything, for that matter), it increases the overall knowledge of the poster.