I used to use a lot of required scripts that I'd written, but these hardly compare to using proper modules. About the time I was reading perlboot and learning OO perl, I also happened across the Monastery. I know modules aren't just for OO (and certainly not functional programming), but understanding OO Perl has affected my ability to get into modules, from a writing and using perspective. I'm still trying to tame my enthusiasm for turning everything into one giant instance.

Side Note: For anyone who hasn't read perlboot, I must say it is a shining example of why merlyn is a leading Perl trainer. He starts you from the ground and builds from there, when you're done you've got the basics of OO like no other perldoc can teach it. And it wasn't until about a week ago, trying to understand closures and searching the vastness of the Monastery, that I found a link to one of his articles which lifted the scales from my eyes about what it really meant to program functionally. Thanks, merlyn!

And of course my usage of CPAN modules has gone up considerably since I found PM. I'd never really understood CGI.pm before I came here. And the CPAN nodelet is a life-saver. 99% of the time it gets me right to a module I can take advantage of.

At least I was using strict before PM though!