Beginners are often startled by the following Perl behavior, and I admit this is one side of Perl that is not really attractive (anymore? or ever?):

$a = 6, 1, 1, 1, 7; say $a; # 6
$a = (6, 1, 1, 1, 7); say $a; # 7
@a = (6, 1, 1, 1, 7); $a = @a; say $a; # 5

Why such seemingly inconsistent and strange behavior?

This post is written mainly as a personal note to remind a future me.

So first: Just a I thought I am done with the Rinci transaction protocol and framework, another idea popped up in my head and pulled me back in. I have to admit, the v1 protocol and the framework are too complic…

I dream a lot. There was a period of 30-40 consecutive days in my high school year when I remember, because I made a note of it after realizing the fact going into the second week of that period, that I dreamed every single night. The frequency has gone much down nowadays, into only about once or twice every week or even less. I still make a note of some of these dreams, especially if the story is peculiar, and I try to find the possible triggers that made my mind decided to weave that story. Sometimes the connection is obvious, and sometimes it is less so.

Last night the dream was re…