Get yourself a copy of Perl in 21 days. That is a good starting point for where you're at. The books you do have are invaulable, but I personally think they can be a bit overwhelming if you've never done a lot of programming.

Next, get yourself a copy of Perl - obviously. :) ActiveState's is good for windows. So it's sort of up to you whether you go with 5.6 or 5.8. Other monks here who have more experience with both versions would be better qualified to advise you on that. I'm using 5.6 and it works for me.

Now as far as your debugger, there is a graphical debugger that is available on the web <a href="http://world.std.com/~aep/ptkdb/>here. Personally, I prefer this debugger, but again your mileage may vary.

Also, as a beginner I would say yes, put in use strict, -w and perhaps even use diagnostics to help you catch errors. And remember there's a LOT of good people here that are willing to help.

Good luck!

There is no emoticon for what I'm feeling now.