Interesting PERL Projects

[dave.clarke at kvaerner.com]

I'm picking away at a couple of things in PERL, whether they are
interesting or not ... I'll let you decide.

1.    I'm working on a CGI script that is referenced from a frame, and
returns a page of links for all the 
      files in the directory,  it helps make a low maintenance web site
(internally).  When I drop a new 
      HTML file in a directory, the script automatically includes a link
to it on the parent page.

      It's functional now, I'm trying to make it more intelligent.  It
does things like read the title out of HTML pages 
      and use that as the text for the hyperlink.

2.    This project is more involved, but of less general interest to the
world.  I'm writing a compiler of sorts that will 
      generate the appropriate syntax for a Fisher-Rosemount process
control system.  The input is a PERL script
      which consists of subroutine calls, each with an anonymous assoc.
array       as its argument.  e.g.

      use SFC.pm;
      FunctionBlock  {NAME => RUN_LOGIC,  USER => DSC};
            attribute {NAME=>AGITATOR_STATE};

            step {NAME => FAIL_SAFE}; 

      The subroutines are part of a PERL module (SFC.pm).  
      The output is a properly arranged import/export file to the Delta
V control system.

      I borrowed heavily from the concepts in CGI.pm, since they are
functionally quite equivalent.