package bytes;
-our $VERSION = '1.03';
+our $VERSION = '1.04';
$bytes::hint_bits = 0x00000008;
bytes - Perl pragma to force byte semantics rather than character semantics
+=head1 DEPRECATED
+
+This pragma reflects early attempts to incorporate Unicode into perl and
+has since been superceded. It breaks encapulation (i.e. it exposes the
+innards of how perl happens to be currently storing a string), and use of
+this module for anything other than debugging purposes is strongly
+discouraged. If you feel that the functions here within might be useful
+for your application, this possibly indicates a mismatch beteen your
+mental model of Perl Unicode and the current reality. In that case, you
+wish to peruse some of the perl Unicode documentation: L<perluniintro>,
+L<perlunitut>, L<perlunifaq> and L<perlunicode>.
+
=head1 SYNOPSIS
use bytes;