I just don't understand the fear associated with using a module. the alternative is much scarier to me. decode CGI variables? parse HTML?

Scarier to you because you know better by now. Try looking at this from a complete Perl novice's position. They see basically two options:

  1. Use a module. First they have to understand exactly what a module is, then which one to use, then where to get it, then how to download it, then how to install it, then how to use it in their script.
  2. Ask for a regex or, at most, a few short lines of code (their perspective, not mine), insert it in their existing script, done.

For most tasks (especially param or HTML parsing) using a module is by far the better choice. Convincing someone of this is the hard part. To the uninitiated, your image tag example seems pretty simple, why would they need a module for it?

Obviously you can't spend an hour discussing the various flaws in a regex with every monk that comes along. If they choose to ignore your advice in the first place that's up to them. They'll either eventually get tired of fixing buggy code and use modules, or they'll continue to write buggy code and won't be any competition in the job market ;-).

In reply to Re: UTFM - Use the Friendly Modules by cjf
in thread UTFM - Use the Friendly Modules by thunders

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