in reply to Sub-initiate needs help getting started
I'm going to join the chorus of "good luck" and also "the consultant should be shot".
I'm also going to say you're in a very sticky situation.
How's this for a question -- why are you attacking this problem from behind?
You've got 8,000 lines of bad code -- forget that for a second, what is it that you want to achieve?
If you've got a database and you've got some expected output, we might well be able to bridge that gap with a new script. Is the JavaScript necessary, or does your boss just need to see reports on x number of widgets sold on the east coast versus x number of widgets sold on the west coast?
Considering what we know about your consultant, they might very well not be very good reports in the first place.
So I'm saying, what if you go back to your boss and say "forget the exact details, layout etc of the reports you have now, reproducing them is a very complex job -- what do you really need to know? I'll start on that." and take it from there.
Getting data out of a database into a web page is not the hardest task you will ever face in Perl.
($_='kkvvttuubbooppuuiiffssqqffssmmiibbddllffss') =~y~b-v~a-z~s; print