Well, you can implement a Perl peek() with unpack('P',...). Once you have that, there's only security through obscurity.

What about writing it first and rationalizing it afterwards?

I've had to learn kind of sense when the questions would be coming and be ready to handle them. There's a lot of education and reiteration that happens on these online channels and sometimes it's tempting to just say, "Well, just go and read the documentation," but you know, people appreciate being led along and taught and mentored.

A journey of a thousand miles continues with the second step.

The problem with using C++ ... is that there's already a strong tendency in the language to require you to know everything before you can do anything.

Let's say the docs present a simplified view of reality.

I think I'm likely to be certified before Perl is.