We are here for the distribution of Perl knowledge, and homework can be disguised. I appreciated the poster stating he had a homework question. It is also, for this reason, that I did not attempt to answer it -- nor even read it.

Initiative is important, so with homework questions, industry questions, or for-fun questions, if the poster is not showing serious initiative, I think it is best that we point them towards some documentation and move on. It's not just students that do this -- many misunderstand what "laziness" in the Wall sense really means.

Admittedly, University policies are often way too strict. I have helped some EE friends through CS classes that would have flunked out of college otherwise...it may be in the gray area, but it's not exactly wrong. I did try to make sure they wrote their own code, and I would only answer questions asked. It's important to be fairly Socratic when it comes to homework questions.

Learning is one thing, learning how to think is another, and learning how to learn is even more important than the previous 2.

That being said, if a question is related to Perl knowledge in general, or Computer Science in general, and not related directly to "how do I parse this phone number for problem #3", that's fine with me. For instance, "I have a homework problem where I need to store a data structure to a file. I don't want any code from you, but what would be a good way to do this? Are there any recommended modules or tools I can use?".