I have often run into similar problems. The scariest thing I ran into was a programmer who was taught (and I have verified that this is the way a lot of programmers were taught 10 to 15 years ago) that when having to fix a problem, the goal was to fix the problem, not to have the program run correctly. I find if the end user can't use the program, they feel it is worthless. As they tend to more directly influence those who write our paychecks, I find it is best to make sure everything works before you release it. A lot of people are stuck in their ways and with technology you just can't do that. The thing I love about Perl and this site in particular is that it is a living system that grows and changes. Sure you will never know everything about the language, but I find that it tends to attract people who like to learn. I heard somewhere that biologists have a word for something that doesn’t change: dead. In fact, I believe I learned that on this site.