This is me just being a monkey and testing the script out: 
F:\dev>perl fabric.pl
How many fabrics are you using?
2
How wide is fabric 1?
1
To be safe, we'll use a width of -1 for fabric 1.
How many different shapes of fabric 1 is a block made of?
1
What is the width of shape 1?
1
What is the height of shape 1?
2
Shape dimensions:
The dimensions of shape 1 are 1x2
You can get 0 piece(s) of shape 1 per
      1" strip of fabric 1.
You can get 36 1" strips per yard.
You can get 0 of shape 1 per yard of
      -1" of fabric 1.
How many of shape 1 do you need per block?
23
You need 23 per block.
How many blocks are you making?
2
You are making 2 blocks.
You need 46 of shape 1.
Illegal division by zero at fabric.pl line 88, <STDIN> line 7.

F:\dev>

[download]
I'll update this node after I've messed with the code.

My monkeying around immediately proves insightful into how you can improve this (at least it appears so to me).

A good strategy might be to turn this into a module, and then, write "interfaces" for it, like commandline, CGI, GUI. All I have to say at this point is, not bad quiltmaker (some of your math may be funny, but useful to real people and immensly perlmonkish -- no prog/perl bg, good practices at the beginning). I see sanity checks, units of measurement conversions, price estimation.... ;D

update:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

# How many fabrics are you using?

my $number_of_fabrics;

print "How many fabrics are you using? \n";

chomp($number_of_fabrics = <STDIN>);

$number_of_fabrics =~ s/\D//; # only allow number input

## $number_of_fabrics ||= 3;  # assume default quietly

unless($number_of_fabrics and $number_of_fabrics >=3 )
{
    warn "Ahem!!! You must enter a NUMBER >= 3, but that's ok, default
+ is 3";
    $number_of_fabrics = 3;
}
#... more to come ... ;D

[download]

 
___crazyinsomniac_______________________________________
Disclaimer: Don't blame. It came from inside the void
perl -e "$q=$_;map({chr unpack qq;H*;,$_}split(q;;,q*H*));print;$q/$q;"

In reply to (crazyinsomniac:) Re: Fabric calculator - a better way to do it? by crazyinsomniac
in thread Fabric calculator - a better way to do it? by ailie

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