Since this is a school assignment, the person you should be talking to, first and foremost, is your instructor. But in addition, give yourself time to reason the problem out.

One thing that I suggest to my students is:   your best friend just might be a diary or a loose-leaf notebook, and a number-two pencil. Write down, in your own words:

• What does it do?
• Got a question? Write it down, in your own words, in longhand. With a pencil. Slowly.
• A computer program moves step-by-step through a definite sequence. Can you write down, in your own words, a set of step-by-step instructions for “a stupid but obedient robot?”
• Never mind Perl! Yes, I told you to forget those stupid punctuation-rules and what compiles and what doesn't. At least for now. All that stuff is merely the “how,” and until you first determine “what” you want the computer to do, well... you don't yet... know “what” to do with all those stupid punctuation-rules anyway, so don't worry about them yet.

Some parts of the project may suggest-themselves, starting to appear dimly in the gloom of your as-yet disorganized thoughts. For instance, you know that this program is going to involve “a loop,” and it's going to involve “counting,” and perhaps although you don't yet see how the whole thing will fit together, you can consider how you might approach one part. So, force your mind to push-away the fact that you don't yet have the entire picture, and focus instead on whatever smaller-piece now appears to be coming out of the fog. That's what the pencil-and-paper is for. I assure you that your subconscious mind is working on this problem now. Vigorous exercise -- swimming, tennis -- also helps.

Don't just run to the Internet for someone to tell you the answer. You're here, not just to “get” the answer, but to “learn how to get” the answer. Don't cheat yourself. And, be patient. The first program I ever wrote was eight lines long, took me three months to write, and had a bug in it.