I just want to say I'm really glad you posted this. One of the hurdles I'm finding difficult to maneuver around (in learning Perl well) is my lack of a programming background. This has made it more of a problem than I'd like being "creative" in this realm ... and by "creative" I don't really mean coming up with Perl poems -- it's more basic than that, e.g. knowing what questions are worth posing, or knowing /how to ask/ the questions. I think it has to do with a familiarity or comfort (or lack thereof in my case) with the real foundation stones/basics.

So tasks like these really appeal. Thanks!