1. First one must formulate the prompt, which is actually somewhat productive because it makes you think about what you want, like writing an SSCCE.

2. Then one must review the generated code which carries a high cognitive load, due to the very bad style, and is generally a form of torture.

3. Finally one must rewrite the generated code to be less ridiculous.

Here's a recent interesting exchange with the claude model where I had it write some of its usual bad code, then rewrote the code, and then fed it back into the model asking it to explain why its code sucks. The model agrees that its code sucks! I hope you find the results as fascinating as I do:

sub shorten_filename {
    my ($filename, $max_length) = @_;
    $max_length //= 50;  # default to 50 characters
    
    return $filename if length($filename) <= $max_length;
    
    # Reserve 3 characters for "..."
    my $ellipsis = "...";
    my $available = $max_length - length($ellipsis);
    
    # Split available space between start and end
    my $start_len = int($available / 2);
    my $end_len = $available - $start_len;
    
    my $start = substr($filename, 0, $start_len);
    my $end = substr($filename, -$end_len);
    
    return $start . $ellipsis . $end;
}
[download]

my $long_file = "this_is_a_very_long_filename_that_needs_to_be_shortened.txt";

print shorten_filename($long_file, 40);
# Output: this_is_a_very_lon...shortened.txt

print shorten_filename($long_file, 50);
# Output: this_is_a_very_long_filena...shortened.txt

Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 17:06:17 +0100
Debian-Perl-Policy and .packlist?
lists.debian.org/debian-policy/2002/12/msg00009.html

Date 2012-01-17T18:06:02
Debian Bug report logs #656242 perl: .packlist file missing
bugs-devel.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=656242

PS - Also wonder if they fail to install MYMETA.json and install.json and the bundle files?

# archlib: The core .packlist
perl -MConfig -e 'print `ls -la "$Config{archlib}/.packlist"`'
perl -MConfig -e 'print `cat "$Config{archlib}/.packlist"`'

# archlib/auto: dist/bundle
perl -MConfig -e 'open $pipe, qq[ls -la "$Config{archlib}/auto" |];pri
+nt while <$pipe>'

# sitearch/auto: dist/.packlist
perl -MConfig -e 'open $pipe, qq[ls -la "$Config{sitearch}/auto" |];pr
+int while <$pipe>'

# sitearch/.meta: dist/install.json and dist/MYMETA.json
perl -MConfig -e 'open $pipe, qq[ls -la "$Config{sitearch}/.meta" |];p
+rint while <$pipe>'
[download]

perl -MHTTP::Tiny -le'$|++;for(split/\n/,HTTP::Tiny->new->get("https:/
+/fastapi.metacpan.org/source/LWALL/perl5.002b3/pod/perldiag.pod")->{c
+ontent}){print${1}and$-++if/^=item\s+(\S\S.*)$/}print(($-+1)," diagno
+stic warnings, deprecations, errors in perl 5.002b3 Feb 03, 1996")'
[download]

perl -MConfig=compile_date -le'$|++;for(`perldoc -u perldiag`){print${
+1}and$-++if/^=item\s+(\S\S.*)$/}print(($-+1)," diagnostic warnings, d
+eprecations, errors in perl $^V ").compile_date()'
[download]

perl -MConfig=compile_date -le'$|++;for(`perldoc -u perldiag`){print${
+1}and$-++if/^=item\s+(\S\S.*)$/}print(($-+1)," diagnostic warnings, d
+eprecations, errors in perl $^V ").compile_date()' | grep 'forbidden'
[download]

Experimental %s on scalar is now forbidden
Initialization of state variables in list currently forbidden
Setting $/ to a reference to %s is forbidden
Setting $/ to %s reference is forbidden
Use of bare << to mean <<"" is forbidden
Use of strings with code points over 0xFF as arguments to vec is forbidden

Question:
write an app that would render a Mandelbrot set in perl

Answer: I'll help you write a Perl script to render the Mandelbrot set. I'll provide a comprehensive example that creates a visual representation of the Mandelbrot set using a simple ASCII or color output method.

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Term::ANSIColor;

# Mandelbrot Set Renderer

# Configuration parameters
my $width = 80;   # Width of the output
my $height = 40;  # Height of the output
my $max_iterations = 100;  # Maximum iteration count

# Mandelbrot set calculation function
sub mandelbrot {
    my ($c_real, $c_imag) = @_;
    my $z_real = 0;
    my $z_imag = 0;
    
    for (my $i = 0; $i < $max_iterations; $i++) {
        # Mandelbrot iteration: z = z^2 + c
        my $new_real = $z_real * $z_real - $z_imag * $z_imag + $c_real
+;
        my $new_imag = 2 * $z_real * $z_imag + $c_imag;
        
        $z_real = $new_real;
        $z_imag = $new_imag;
        
        # If magnitude exceeds 2, it's not in the set
        return $i if ($z_real * $z_real + $z_imag * $z_imag > 4);
    }
    
    return $max_iterations;
}

# Render the Mandelbrot set
sub render_mandelbrot {
    for my $y (0 .. $height - 1) {
        my $line = '';
        for my $x (0 .. $width - 1) {
            # Map pixel coordinates to complex plane
            my $real = ($x / $width) * 4 - 2;     # X-axis from -2 to 
+2
            my $imag = ($y / $height) * 4 - 2;    # Y-axis from -2 to 
+2
            
            my $iterations = mandelbrot($real, $imag);
            
            # Color/character selection based on iterations
            my $char;
            if ($iterations == $max_iterations) {
                $char = colored('#', 'black');  # Points inside the se
+t
            } else {
                # Gradient coloring based on iteration count
                my $color = _get_color($iterations);
                $char = colored('*', $color);
            }
            
            $line .= $char;
        }
        print "$line\n";
    }
}

# Color selection function
sub _get_color {
    my ($iterations) = @_;
    my @colors = (
        'red', 'green', 'yellow', 'blue', 
        'magenta', 'cyan', 'bright_red', 'bright_green'
    );
    return $colors[$iterations % scalar(@colors)];
}

# Main execution
print "Mandelbrot Set Visualization\n";
render_mandelbrot();
[download]

Supported:
Bash
C
C++
C#
Dart
ECMAScript
Elixir
Erlang
Go
Java
JavaScript
Kotlin
PHP
Python
Python3
Racket
Ruby
Rust
Scala
Swift
TypeScript

In perl.perl5.porters, Philippe Bruhat wrote:

I'm very sorry to be the bearer of sad news, which I just learned
from a co-worker who was in regularl contact with Zefram.

He forwarded me this:
We are sad to announce that Zefram (Andrew Main) died yesterday
(2025-03-10) after being hit by a train. Further details are not yet
available. Everyone close to him is very shocked by this and contact
details and further arrangements will be announced in future.
He was a long-time and prolific contributor to Perl core and CPAN,
and he will be missed.

I will forward further details (memorial or place to send condolences)
as I receive them.

Christian Walde then followed up with:

Thanks for bearing the news BooK, even if it is sad news.

As an additional bit of info, his personal website's section on this 
matter is relevant: https://www.fysh.org/~zefram/personal/death

brew install pkg-config

brew install libpng
pkg-config --cflags libpng
cpan Imager::File::PNG

brew install jpeg
pkg-config --cflags libjpeg
cpan Imager::File::JPEG

brew install giflib
cpan Imager::File::GIF

GIF: Test code failed: Can't link/include 'gif_lib.h', 'stdio.h', 'errno.h', 'string.h', 'gif'...
! Configure failed for Imager-File-GIF-0.98. See /Users/you/.cpanm/work/1713652269.80239/build.log for details.

cd /Users/you/.cpanm/work/1713652269.80239/Imager-File-GIF-0.98

perl Makefile.PL -v --incpath=/opt/homebrew/include --libpath=/opt/homebrew/var/homebrew/linked/giflib/lib

make
make test
make install

o conf makepl_arg "LIBS=-L/opt/homebrew/var/homebrew/linked/giflib/lib INC=-I/opt/homebrew/include"

sudo /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb

locate giflib
/opt/homebrew/var/homebrew/linked/giflib

locate gif_lib.h        
/opt/homebrew/Cellar/giflib/5.2.1/include/gif_lib.h
/opt/homebrew/include/gif_lib.h

cpan -M https://www.cpan.org -a
[download]

Task 2: Submatrix Sum
Submitted by: Jorg Sommrey

You are given a NxM matrix A of integers.

Write a script to construct a (N-1)x(M-1) matrix B 
having elements that are the sum over the 2x2 submatrices of A,

b[i,k] = a[i,k] + a[i,k+1] + a[i+1,k] + a[i+1,k+1]


Example 1

Input: $a = [
              [1,  2,  3,  4],
              [5,  6,  7,  8],
              [9, 10, 11, 12]
            ]

Output: $b = [
               [14, 18, 22],
               [30, 34, 38]
             ]
[download]

I tried to crank it up for entertainment -- to solve not "2x2", but arbitrary "WxH" sub-matrices of (relatively) large matrices. Sadly, it was too late into many stupid plots and tables, when I realized, that excessive summation isn't required at all. Sliding (moving) sum (or average, min/max, etc.) is a well known concept -- duh! not to un-educated me, alas. And so maybe "2x2", not "WxH", in the task, was selected not only because PWC tries to accommodate new learners. Anyway, I implemented "sliding submatrix sums" algorithm only at a later stage, in PDL, and didn't "backport" it to pure Perl (nor Pdlpp) because had already been somewhat fed-up with this 248-2, but decided to present sanitized results as a meditation.

Disclaimer: it's clickbait. The plot is curved, solution isn't linear, despite lack of nested loops, -- but fast.

Task 2: Group Hero
Submitted by: Mohammad S Anwar

You are given an array of integers representing the strength.

Write a script to return the sum of the powers of all possible 
combinations; power is defined as the square of the largest number 
in a sequence, multiplied by the smallest.

Example 1

Input: @nums = (2, 1, 4)
Output: 141

Group 1: (2) => square(max(2)) * min(2) => 4 * 2 => 8
Group 2: (1) => square(max(1)) * min(1) => 1 * 1 => 1
Group 3: (4) => square(max(4)) * min(4) => 16 * 4 => 64
Group 4: (2,1) => square(max(2,1)) * min(2,1) => 4 * 1 => 4
Group 5: (2,4) => square(max(2,4)) * min(2,4) => 16 * 2 => 32
Group 6: (1,4) => square(max(1,4)) * min(1,4) => 16 * 1 => 16
Group 7: (2,1,4) => square(max(2,1,4)) * min(2,1,4) => 16 * 1 => 16

Sum: 8 + 1 + 64 + 4 + 32 + 16 + 16 => 141