That's high school right? If anything I can truly tell from the "constraints" imposed upon you by your teacher is, regardless of what the other monks says, he's teaching you at least one very important lesson: in programming, as in life, a lot of choices are not up to you, and you have to fight to get as much of your "wisdom" as you possibly can, in where it counts.

I sugguest, after ensuring there was no miscommunication, which can often happen, and after you've completed this project, that you inquire as to the "reasoning" behind the constraints placed upon you.

Look on the bright side, the next time you have to do something like this, you'll probably get paid ;D
 

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** The Third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.