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[doc] perl pack rephrase #22697

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poti1 opened this issue Oct 23, 2024 · 3 comments · May be fixed by #23251
Open

[doc] perl pack rephrase #22697

poti1 opened this issue Oct 23, 2024 · 3 comments · May be fixed by #23251

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@poti1
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poti1 commented Oct 23, 2024

Where
perlpack

Description
Please rephrase the second part of the sentence:

"Let's use unpack, since this is likely to remind you of a dump program, or some desperate last message unfortunate programs are wont to throw at you before they expire into the wild blue yonder."

@mauke
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mauke commented Oct 23, 2024

Why?

@poti1
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poti1 commented Oct 24, 2024

Ok. Otherwise, can you please explain what the sentence is saying?

I am a native English speaker and have read that sentence now ten times and still do not understand it entirely.

@mauke
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mauke commented Oct 24, 2024

Does this help?

... this is likely to remind you of [...] some desperate message [that] <unfortunate programs> <are wont> <to throw at you> before they expire ...

This is a relative sub-clause attached to "desperate message". Within the sub-clause, "unfortunate programs" is the subject and "are wont (to throw)" is the verb.

It is talking about hex dumps and crash dumps, both of which may show binary data encoded as hexadecimal digits. (In fact, "expire into the wild blue yonder" is probably a reference to the Windows "blue screen of death"; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Windows_NT_3.51_BSOD_ita.png.)

khwilliamson added a commit to khwilliamson/perl5 that referenced this issue May 4, 2025
@khwilliamson khwilliamson linked a pull request May 4, 2025 that will close this issue
khwilliamson added a commit to khwilliamson/perl5 that referenced this issue May 4, 2025
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3 participants