want to help you improve your perl to help you improve this greatly

[wchristian]

You mentioned that you wrote this version as a way to learn Perl, however sadly it looks like you fell into a great number of traps along the way that are better helped not by me changing the code, but by teaching you concepts you haven't found on your way yet.

Are you online in any realtime chat environments, preferrably IRC?

[nhmood]

Yes, I am on IRC occasionally, and I think it would be great to chat about proper modern Perl. #perl on freenode?

[wchristian]

I'm on there pretty much 24/7 (though not always at the keyboard) and my nick is Mithaldu, just give me a poke! :)

[doherty]

I'd be happy to help as well, though I am unavailable until exams are over (3 days)