You have a very good point about my code needing to be less verbose, however, just for future reference, because in all of my write-ups this point usually comes into discussion, Perl is my first programming language. Because of this, I lack the structure most programmers have, because I've yet to work with a strongly typed language. When you have a skill, it's perfectly understandable, to omit it when helpful or unnecessary, however, if you are trying to learn a skill (such as coding with structure and discipline), using it even when not absolutely necessary, helps develop good programming habits.
In short, my code is always going to be verbose, because I am trying to teach myself good habits, as well as be careful not to learn bad ones, such as getting used to using lots of short cuts and having bad structure, or rather, lose structure, because my research, as well as my fellow programmer's, have shown me that Perl being your first programming language, can cause lots of problems unless you are careful.
I suppose perhaps ya'll might think I go over-board, but I'd rather do that, than become a messy coder, and wind up having serious issues when I begin learning strongly typed languages in school this spring. However, I do realize it's just as important to learn the short cuts and usefulness of Perl as the discipline, structure, good habits, etc., so I do appreciate the other monks pointing these things out, so my knowledge expands in those areas as well, I just believe, for now, until I become seasoned as far as other languages are concerned, the discipline of being very structured and verbose in all the code I write, is something I will stick with, in an attempt to become a Rockstar Programmer ;)
