@ -8,8 +8,7 @@ In this paper, we aim to answer a long-standing open problem in the programming
We answer this question in the affirmative: it **is possible** to smear paint on the wall without creating a valid Perl program. We employ an empirical approach, using optical character recognition (OCR) software, which finds that merely 93% of paint splatters parse as valid Perl. We analyze the properties of paint-splatter Perl programs, and present seven examples of paint splatters which are not valid Perl programs.
<blockquoteclass="twitter-tweet"data-lang="en"><plang="en"dir="ltr">but is it possible to smear paint on the wall without creating valid Perl?</p>— Jake Archibald (@jaffathecake) <ahref="https://twitter.com/jaffathecake/status/1095706032448393217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2019</a></blockquote>
[](https://twitter.com/jaffathecake/status/1095706032448393217)
Accepted for publication at SIGBOVIK 2019, held April 1st 2019 in Pittsburgh. Winner of a Unwitting Participation Ribbon, "an unwelcome brand we’ve affixed to each paper determined after careful scrutiny to have included a genuine artifact, thereby furthering the admirable causes of open science and fruitful procrastination."