In this paper, we aim to answer a long-standing open problem in the programming languages community: is it possible to smear paint on the wall without creating valid Perl?

We answer this question in the affirmative: it is possible to smear paint on the wall without creating a valid Perl program. We employ an empirical approach, using optical character recognition (OCR) software, which finds that merely 93% of paint splatters parse as valid Perl. We analyze the properties of paint-splatter Perl programs, and present seven examples of paint splatters which are not valid Perl programs.

top 7 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 29 points 7 months ago (2 children)

i love human beings we are so adorable

[–] themoonisacheese@sh.itjust.works 10 points 7 months ago

If you like this then I'd recommend reading more papers published at sigbovik. Favorites include "do programming socks make you better at programing?", "making hard drives by increasingly stupid and unworkable means" and "a formal mathematical proof that I am transgender"

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

In... some aspects 😅

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago

I thought I was reading The Onion for a second.

[–] spizzat2@lemm.ee 11 points 7 months ago

Now paint splatters are coming for my job!?

Humanity truly is screwed.

[–] Hupf@feddit.de 7 points 7 months ago

https://xkcd.com/1685/

[–] subignition@fedia.io 1 points 7 months ago

I was not expecting woomy