Top 7 Funniest Perl Modules
By Jeff Boes
November 4, 2015
And now for something completely different …
Programmers in general, and Perl programmers in particular, seem to have excellent, if warped, senses of humor. As a result, the CPAN library is replete with modules that have oddball names, or strange and wonderful purposes, or in some delightful cases—both!
Let’s take a look.
1. Bone::Easy
I’m going to take the coward’s way out on this one right away. Go see for yourself, or don’t.
2. Acme::EyeDrops
Really, anything in the Acme::* (meaning “perfect”) namespace is just programmer-comedy gold, depending on what you find amusing and what is just plain forehead-smacking stupid to you. This one allows you to transform your Perl programs (small ones work better) from this:
print "hello world\n";
to this:
jeff@Wyvern:~$ perl bin/eyedrops.pl
1 shapes completed.
use re 'eval';
''=~('('.'?'
.'{'.( '`'|'%').("\["^
'-').('`'| '!').('`'|',').'"'
.('['^'+') .('['^ ')').('`'|')').('`'|
'.').('['^'/').('{'^ '[').'\\'.'"'.('`'|'('
).('`'|'%').('`'|',') .('`'|',').('`'|"\/").(
'{'^'[').('['^','). ('`'|'/').('['^')').("\`"|
',').('`'|'$') .'\\'.'\\'.('`'|'.').'\\'.'"'
.';'.('!'^'+') .'"'.'}'.')');$:='.'^'~';$~='@'|
'(';$^=')'^'['; $/='`'|'.';$,='('^'}';$\='`'|'!';$:
=')'^'}';$~='*' |'`';$^='+'^'_';$/='&'|'@';$,='['&'~';
$\=','^"\|";$:= '.'^'~';$~='@'|'(';$^=')'^'[';$/='`'|'.'
;$,='('^'}';$\ ='`'|'!';$:=')'^'}';$~='*'|'`';$^='+'^'_'
;$/='&'|'@';$, ='['&'~';$\=','^'|';$:='.'^'~';$~='@'|'(';
$^=')'^'[';$/='`'|'.';$,='('^'}';$\='`'|'!';$:=')'^'}';$~=
'*'|'`';$^='+'^'_';$/='&'|'@';$,='['&'~';$\=','^'|';$:='.'^
'~';$~='@'|'(';$^=')'^'[';$/='`'|'.';$,='('^'}';$\='`'|'!'
;$:=')'^'}';$~='*'|'`';$^='+'^'_';$/='&'|'@';$,='['&'~';$\=
','^'|';$:='.'^'~';$~='@'|'(';$^=')'^'[';$/='`'|'.';$,='('^
'}';$\='`'|'!';$:=')'^'}';$~='*'|'`';$^='+'^'_';$/='&'|'@'
;$,='['&'~';$\=','^'|';$:='.'^'~';$~='@'|'(';$^="\)"^ '['
;$/='`'|'.';$,='('^'}';$\='`'|'!';$:=')'^'}';$~='*' |((
'`'));$^='+'^'_';$/='&'|'@';$,='['&'~';$\ =','^'|' ;$:
='.'^'~';$~='@'|'(';$^=')'^'[';$/='`'| '.';$,= '('
^'}'; $\='`'|'!';$:=')'^'}';$~="\*"| '`';$^= '+'
^'_';$/='&'|'@';$,='['&'~';$\ =(',')^ '|'
;$:='.'^ '~';$~='@' |"\("; $^=')' ^+
'[';$/= '`'|'.'; $,='(' ^"\}"; $\
=('`')| "\!";$:= "\)"^ "\}"; (
($~))= '*'|'`'; ($^) ='+'
^"\_"; $/=('&')| '@'; ($,)
='['& "\~";$\= ','^ '|';
($:)= '.'^'~' ;$~= '@'|
'('; $^=')' ^'[' ;$/=
'`'| '.' ;$,= '('^
'}'; $\= '`' |((
'!' )); $:= ')'
^(( '}' )); $~=
'*' |(( '`' ))
;( ($^))= ((
(( '+')) ))
^+ "\_";$/= ((
'&' ))|+ "\@"; $,
=(( '['))& '~'; $\=
','^ "\|";$:= '.' ^'~'
;($~)= ('@')|
"\(";$^= ')'^'['
Oh, that’s not just a picture of a camel. That’s actual Perl code; you can run that, and it executes in the exact same way as the original one-liner. So much more stylish. Plus, you can impress your boss/cow-orker/heroic scientist boyfriend.
3. common::sense
This one makes the list because (a) it is just so satisfying to see
use common::sense;
atop a Perl program, and (b) a citation of this on our company IRC chat is what planted the seed for this article.
Another is sanity.pm, as in:
use sanity;
Seems like a good approach.
4. Silly::Werder
Not a terribly interesting name, but it produces some head-scratching output. For instance,
Broringers isess ailerwreakers paciouspiris dests bursonsinvading buggers companislandet despa ascen?
I suppose you might use this to generate some Lorem ipsum-type text, or maybe temporary passwords? Dialog for your science fiction novel?
5. Moose*
Any module with the word “Moose” in it. “Moose” is a funny word.
6. D::oh
The humor here is a bit obscure: you have to have been around for Perl4-style namespace addressing, when you would have had to load this via:
use D'oh;
7. your
As in:
use your qw($wits %head @tools);
Here the name is the funny bit; the module itself is all business.
Well, that seems like enough to get you started. If you find others, post them here in the comments!
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