in reply to 2D arrays & mo' better blues

OK, here's my suggestions : replace
my @alpha = qw(a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z);
with
my @alpha = ("a".."z");

since it's smaller and more legible.

using

my $x=0; my $y=0;

is redundant; my'd variables are set to 0/""/undef unless explicitly set otherwise.

I'd also replace

while ($yy < 26) { $xx = 0; while ($xx < 26) { print " $outtie[$xx][$yy] "; $xx++; } print "\n"; $yy++; }

with

foreach $yy (1..26) { foreach $xx (1..26) { print " $outtie[$xx][$yy] "; } print \n }