Those familiar with Perl will undoubtedly have used its split() function, which takes a single string and splits it into multiple strings or into an array, based on a delimiter character specified in the call. Typical invocations of split() would be:

     ($field1, $field2, $junk) = split(':', $line);
@array = split(' ', $line);

Being able to identify the processor in which your program is running, can be a very useful feature, if not to ensure that your program will work on a wider range of computers, at least to provide minimum compatibility and guarantee it not to crash on some processors.

The first part of this article explains how to distinguish between older 80486 and lower processors by checking for known behaviours, while the second part (written by Chris) takes it one step forward, explain...
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One of the most famous Unix maxims reads 'everything is a file'; directories are files, pipes are files, hardware devices are files, even files are files. This provided a transparent means or reading and writing hardware or software constructs such as modems and sockets; yet the lack of interrupts or device driver routines is sometimes confusing for those not used to Unix programming. In linux, handling device parameters through the character and block 'special file' in...
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If you need to write a graphics routine that has a reasonable resolution and which is nearly always present, there is just one choice: mode 12h or the well known 640 x 480 x 16. This mode is the highest resolution mode which is always available in all VGA cards.
800 x 600 is better but it either needs a VESA driver installed or the user must himself figure out how to switch the machine to that mode. Not an easy task for the majority of "experienced Windows users" (isn't thi...
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Since I provided a ready-to-be-assembled virus in the "'Ambulance Car' Disassembly" article, I decided to also write a bonus article with a basic disinfector for it. Please note that this disinfector doesn't locate and clean all existing 'Ambulance Car' strains, though it does work on more than half of the strains I have (thanks Cicatrix). It is only intended to work with the strain I provided, so no assurances are given as to whether it...
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I had the idea for this one day after stumbling upon a "gem" that somebody had written to play life. It was small and fast and reminded me of years ago when I had written many versions of this for the BBC Master 128 (my love lost). Since I had never written a version for the PC I thought that I would, and ended up spending some hours trimming off the bytes until it is now :- 156 bytes long. I must admit if it was not for the program that I found, this program would have been M...
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This virus has definitely my favourite payload of all times. I just love seeing that little ambulance run across the screen with a 'siren' playing at the same time. Other than that, the virus itself isn't much of a thing. Don't forget though, that it is dated back to at least 1990.

It is a non-resident .COM infector, and each time an infected file is run it will attempt to infect two files (be it in the current directory or in a directory locate...
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