My tip: Learn to solve your own problems

Before I consider posting to Perlmonks (or bothering co-workers ;) ) I always try to write a smaller program that illustrates my problem. I give it the data (hardcoded where possible) that I expect to get (or to compare with the data I expect from my code) and work from there.

This allows me:

• Controlled space where I can experiment
• Clean brain space to concentrate on the problem
• Knowledge that I can't break anything
• I can have finer control over running the test area

I say try it (if you don't already).

Just my 2p
SP