in reply to How to write programs?

I am not blind, but I code in braille. Naturally this is time consuming, but since I do not program for a living I have the luxury of taking years to complete a program if I so choose. In fact, the current program I am working on started out in 1995 as a Perl 4 program. I have had to make some changes in recent years to keep up with Perl 5 and I hope it will be finished before Perl 6 hits the streets, otherwise I fear it may not be finished before I am deceased. One of the downsides to this approach is that many other programs like it have emerged throughout its many years of development and it is unlikely that anyone will care when I am finished with it - I refuse to let it go, however, as it is my legacy. There is an upside to this approach to writing programs, and that is *gawk*..kck..kck..*gasp*

Ok, kidding aside... There's already alot of good advice posted here, so I will just add my $0.02...

Having run a BBS in the 80's has instilled in me the appropriate amount of paranoia to always quadruple check user input. I've drawn from that experience to avoid many of the CGI pitfalls without having to experience the shame of falling victim first. But then, I don't do that for a living either.