Re: RFC 246 (v1) - RFC 250 pack/unpack enhancements

Michael G Schwern wrote:

> RFC 142 may help out existing un/pack users, but does nothing to help
> in the understanding of un/pack by native speakers of Perl.
>
> I'm starting to think this is largely a documentation issue.

The existing documentation of pack/unpack is terse, and assumes a knowledge of
"other language" data layouts.  I think everyone can agree on that.

The need for pack/unpack is mostly to coexist with those other languages' data
structures.

If you know the other language, pack/unpack becomes less obscure.  If you don't,
it doesn't.  So maybe a good part of that is a documentation issue.

Another use of pack/unpack could be to [re]store Perl data in binary form, which
can sometimes be smaller than ASCII form (source that can be eval'd).  For this
purpose, non-other-language-knowledge documentation would be extremely helpful.
--
Glenn
=====
Even if you're on the right track,
you'll get run over if you just sit there.
                       -- Will Rogers



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