With regard to the debugging print statements, here's something I do that works very well for me in situations like this. First, at the top of the file, set a debug flag: 
$debug = 1;

[download]
Then I make a debug subroutine: 
sub Debug {
    if ( $debug ) {
        my $msg = shift;
        print $msg, "\n";
    }
}

[download]
Then throughout the code, I drop in things like: 
Debug( "Entering calculation phase." );
Debug( "Pre-calculation value of \$x: $x" );
...
Debug( "Leaving calculation phase." );
Debug( "Post-calculation value of \$x: $x" );

[download]
This allows me to check values of just about anything, at any point in execution. Then when you're done debugging, you just set $debug to zero and you're done. Personally, I usually leave the debug code in place, in case I ever need to come back and fiddle with the program and need to debug it again.

HTH
___________________
Kurt

In reply to Re: Re: Am I missing something here? by sifukurt
in thread Am I missing something here? by suggus

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