Perl version string: why use EVAL EXPR?

Question

I just took notice to this generated by Catalyst.pl. It is obviously some sort of unannotated hack. What is the advantage of setting up a version string like th

Answer 1

I may be misremembering this, but I think some automated code parsers like to see the line of code:

 our $VERSION = '0.01';

But you really want $VERSION to hold a float instead of a string.

You may want to read this article, I know I am going to.

Oh, dear god, now I remember why I use

our $VERSION = 20100903;

style version numbers. That is just insane. I love Perl, but that is pure, refined, concentrated insanity. I won't try to summarize David Golden's article. You just have to read it and cry.