From: Joel VanderWerf <vjoel@...>
Date: 2007-10-27T03:09:56+09:00
Subject: Re: background on String#unpack?

Giles Bowkett wrote:
> I'm just looking for historical context on this method. It looks like
> one of those old-school Unix-isms that must have been incredibly
> useful in the past but never comes up in the course of run-of-the-mill
> Web programming. I'm pretty sure I first saw it ten years ago in Perl
> and never once used it myself. I think I did copy/paste it in some
> encryption code or something related, but I'm not sure. Just
> wondering, what's it for? Who uses it, and why?

Array#pack and String#unpack are useful for handling _binary_ network 
protocols and file formats.

-- 
       vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407