Well, if you can't see the small parts, work from top down first. I've often coded things as:

my $data = get_data();
process_data($data);
print_result();
[download]

literally, as if it were pseudo code. Then I write stub routines, like:

sub get_data {
  # returns scalar data pointer to my structure
  my $return_value;
  my $db = open_database($credentials); # must declare this above
  my $data = query_db($db, "select * from bar");
  $return_value = massage_data($data);
  return $return_value;
}

sub open_database {
  my $cred = shift;
  warn "open_database doing nothing";
  return undef;
}
...
[download]

and so on... Then at any time, I can "run" what I've got. And stay focussed on each area of development. If I need a class, I'll develop a generic class that I can plug in.

Again, the goal is to type a dozen-ish lines of code, then invoke it. That's nearly always been possible.

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

Outside of code tags, you may need to use entities for some characters:

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.