#!/usr/bin/perl

my $num = 42; #init a number
my $num2 = "55"; #another valid way to init a number!

my $name = "joe"; #init a double quoted string

my $color = 'red'; #init a single quoted string

my $string_w_num = "I have 10 applies";

my $foo = undef; #undefined or null variable
my $foo; #a sloppy way to define an undef variable
my $foo = ""; #null, but NOT undef!
my $foo = ''; #null but not undef!

print "The number Forty-Two: $num\n";


print "############### Scalar Functions http://perldoc.perl.org/index-functions-by-cat.html\n";
print "Example of using LENGTH function\n";


#below I use the built in scalar function length() to calculate the 
#length of a string.  THe function returns a number which I capture 
#in the variable $length_of_string

my $length_of_string = length($string_w_num);

print "\'$string_w_num\' has: \"$length_of_string\" characters\n";