Is PerlMonks a good place to get answers for homework?

Many questions posed to the monastery get shot down with a summary "Do your own homework!"

But, in general, monks will refuse to produce the goods in response to a homework-type question. Some reasons are:

• They think that you would learn more by doing it yourself.
• They are insulted because you think that your time is more valuable than theirs.
• They think that you are showing disrespect for the effort which they have put into learning what they know by asking for the answers to be handed to you.
• They do not want to be a part of someone else's (possible or perceived) dishonorable conduct.

On the other hand, most monks will not mind helping you with your homework, provided that you:

1. Indicate up front that it is a homework assignment;
2. Show everything you've tried so far;
3. Ask specific questions for help getting over specific hurdles.

Rather than post a request for help with homework, try some of the following ways to work it out yourself.

• Get some Perl books. O'Reilly books are highly rated, for example.
• Go to http://perldoc.perl.org/ to read the Perl documentation on line.
• Use perldoc to read the Perl documentation on your own system.
• Use Super Search to find how other people have solved similar problems.
• Look in Tutorials for articles which cover your problem area.