I am personnally very wary of rating any question from anyone as "too basic." Flamers/jokers/homework cheaters aside, I'm not sure it's possible to consistently tell the difference between 1) someone who's lazy and hasn't bothered to check the docs and 2) someone who's CHECKED the docs and stil don't understand.

The most fundamental information (in any subject, not just Perl) is often skipped in the documentation under the assumption that "everyone knows that." (Try to find a definition of a "four banger" in a engine strip-down manual. I dare you.) Well, I for one can say everyone doesn't. I learned Perl with Programming Perl in one hand and the Perl docs in the other and there were many, many frustrating times when one or the other (or both!) would say something akin to "This is just like x function in Unix" or give code examples on how to do something with no explanation. There was an assumption of a basic level of knowledge that didn't exist in my case. I would have given my eye-teeth for a good explanation of grep, or a good definition of what the heck a character class was. Too basic? RTFM? Not in my case...

Maybe it's because I'm not burned out after years of c.l.p dealing with newbies, but my first inclination is to say that all who come here seeking knowledge are worthy, and should be treated, at minimum, gently. The question might look stupid to you, but surely going to the trouble to seek out the Monestary and type in a coherent question should count for something. When you see an easy question, please answer it as a teacher would, addressing the scope, level, and desire of the student.

And if you can't do that, at least be quiet while those of us with more patience take care of it for you.

Gary Blackburn
Trained Killer

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