I wasn't very clear in describing the current "program" I'm taking over. There are two main files, one is the .pl that starts the processing, and the other is a .lib that contains all the subroutines. The .lib file is the monster with about 8000 lines of code.

There are not a lot of comments in the actual .lib file (I will be adding these as I figure out what each subroutine does). Without getting into the politics, my manager had no say over what this programmer did, or left behind. We just ended up being the ones to maintain it.

The global variables do begin with "g_" and the "xxx" part was me being lazy... There are some decent variable names in there (but I'm often confusing them with the "m_" variables with the same "xxx" part).

Another confession: I don't know how to build a test suite, but I'll dig around this website for ideas before asking for input right now on this node.

The subroutines are mostly Print statements to get the HTML to generate on the Web page; I don't see where any HTML template module was used. I have figured out how to do a HERE on my own (I think that's what it's called) so I won't have to type PRINT all the time. I have also looked a little at some of the HTML modules, and I think I'll try to use them.

A lot of the new reports are very similar in look and feel to the existing ones. At this point (and the looming deadline), I'll probably copy one of the reports, clean it up, and use it for a template for the new reports. I'm hoping that by putting my new reports in a separate file I can use -w and use strict.

Thanks for even more great pointers. I'm actually getting a little jazzed about starting in on this wooly mammoth!