I am not a programmer. Despite the fact that I have been writing a lot of code lately, this is more evident today than ever. I aspire to at some point to be a programmer, which, to me, means having a certain mindset and discipline in the way you go about things when writing code. I have a degree in Philosophy and some training in world religions, and I find the Monk metaphor for the programmer quite apt for the people who I have known to be good programmers.

That said, I would love to know two things to get me on the right PATH. I've had some help already, but I'm looking for what the monks think.

1. When YOU need to know something, where do you ('did you' for those who have memorized the doc and refs - I know you're out there) turn to for help first, second etc. Do you perldoc first? Do you break out the Camel next? I know full well this answer will vary for all of you. I want to know what people see as good paths to traverse through the reams and reams of Perl wisdom that are out there.

2. When you are just starting to write a program of any sort, do you have a specific way you go about it? Now, I realize your actual activities will depend greatly on the desired results, but what I'm trying to get at is what do you DO first each time? Do you start with pseudo code and build from there? Do you break out what jumps at you as the hard bits and code, test, debug and benchmark those first? I assume too much - do you benchmark before you're complete, or in pieces?

I'm sorry if this is too vague. I'm afraid I know so little about how to proceed that these are the best questions I can muster. I'm trying to shed some light on the process I should be using. Of course I will have to find my own way, but, when you know others have made the same journey, it's always good to look for footprints along the paths.

-- I'm a solipsist, and so is everyone else. (think about it)