Quizzing students with Perl

The code below (server addresses Xed out for security) has been used on my website for years, but it does seem to misbehave on rare occasions, so I have a few questions on how I might improve it. I apologize in advance for my amateurish coding; I’m a high school teacher who cannot afford hiring

Re: Quizzing students with Perl

Many thanks for the helpful feedback from John W. Krahn, Andy Bach, and David Christensen. I have a lot to work on and I am grateful to all of you for steering me in useful directions. A special thanks to John W. Krahn, who not only zeroed in on what is likely the probably source of my

inserting a variable server name into code

The following three lines are from a program that works fine for me. # Choose template file use constant TMPL_FILE = /big/dom/xoldserver/www/templates/open_courses3.html; my $tmpl = new HTML::Template( filename = TMPL_FILE ); I wanted to make the program more portable,

Re: inserting a variable server name into code

Many thanks to Andy Bach, Janek Schleicher, Diab Jerius, and David Precious for you helpful comments on my post. My problem is solved and, more importantly, I learned important stuff from all of you! Rick Triplett -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscr...@perl.org For additional

regex problem?

The following code apparently is not doing what I wanted. My intention was to confirm that the general format of $student_id was this: several uppercase letters followed by a hyphen followed by several digits. If not, it would trigger the die. Unfortunately it seems to always trigger the die.

local and auto flush

I’m very much a novice — familiar with Learning Perl but finding Intermediate Perl an uphill slog. The few lines below are from a subroutine that calls Template Toolkit. The commented out line I simply copied from Perl Template Toolkit (PTT); the line after it is what I replaced it with after

difficulty with matching

This is a newbie question, I’m sure. But I get perplexed easily! The follow code segment expects to receive a $student_id consisting of a surname followed by a hyphen followed by a number. The die is for testing what I’m doing. If I feed it 'jones-123’ it dies with ‘jones, - , 123’ as I

Re: obstinate syntax errors

Uri, Thank you SO much for your helpful comments! You didn’t just solve THIS problem, you’ve helped me in my future programming! Rick > On Jan 19, 2018, at 11:56 AM, Uri Guttman <u...@stemsystems.com> wrote: > > On 01/19/2018 12:44 PM, Rick T wrote: >> The subr

obstinate syntax errors

The subroutine below produces the following syntax errors: syntax error at /big/dom/xexploringmyself/cgi-bin/register.cgi line 71, near ""Can't change directory to $progress_hash{student_id}: $!";" syntax error at /big/dom/xexploringmyself/cgi-bin/register.cgi line 73, near ")" I've tried

slurp error

I tried to implement some advice about slurping that I read on this mailing list (using local) but cannot get it to work. I get the message “Value of construct can be "0"; test with defined() at line 23” (the $slurp = <$fh1> line). I’m using perl version 5.18.2 installed in 2014. I’ve googled

slipping through my sieve

I don’t know whether my difficulty is with my perl or with my logic; but either way I need a fresh mind on this. If I test the subroutine by feeding it a file name that does not exist in any format, I expect it to die — but it does not. Any good ideas will be greatly appreciated! Rick sub

Re: slipping through my sieve

globals to pass data. I’ve come across this suggestion in the past but failed to appreciate it. Now I see that I have a lot of rewriting to do. An uphill job, but it needs to happen! Rick > On Sep 9, 2018, at 1:30 PM, Uri Guttman wrote: > > On 09/09/2018 02:11 PM, Rick T wrote: >&g

interpolation without double quotes

The following line works, even though I forgot to double quote the variable. my $student_directory = '/data/students/' . $student_id; When I noticed this, I thought this was convenient: perl is trying to “do the right thing.” But I worry that leaving them out may be bad coding practice; if

data structure for Template Toolkit

As a novice in perl I realize that it’s a bit presumptuous for me to attempt references and complex data structures. But I had a need and gave it a shot — a failing shot. I’ve been fiddling with my failure, almost mindlessly, all weekend; now I need some help. Below is the template segment I

Re: data structure for Template Toolkit

Linux > On Oct 31, 2018, at 6:21 AM, Mike Flannigan wrote: > > > Are you on Linux or using Strawberry Perl? > I used Activestate for 15+ years and I was surprised > by how easy it was to move to Strawberry Perl about > 3 years ago. It's pretty darn easy to install modules > with Strawberry

browser hang

This is not exactly a perl question, but perl may be implicated. The code below writes files to my server, one for each element of @ course_file_list. The files are small and the processing is simple and should go quickly. It works if the array has only a couple of elements; but with a longer

Re: data structure for Template Toolkit

ilto:u...@stemsystems.com>> wrote: > > On 10/28/18 4:45 PM, Rick T wrote: >> As a novice in perl I realize that it’s a bit presumptuous for me to attempt >> references and complex data structures. But I had a need and gave it a shot >> — a failing shot. I’ve been fiddling wit

reading form values from POST

I am trying to wean myself from CGI.pm, an easy task for most of you, but I am a beginner. The code below works, but that does not mean it always will or that it cannot be improved. I found the main part of this in CGI Programming with Perl, which is 18 years old, and I’ve given up hoping that

proper use of TEMPLATE

I’m sure this is a “newbie question,” but I am only a shade above that status and would appreciate some clarification. I have use TEMPLATE in my code to control whether the attribute selected appears with one of the < options> of the list following in my served html document. Here’s one

configuring Net::SMTP

I have two subroutines (below) in a program that uses Net::SMTP. I’ve recently moved my site from FutureQuest.net to Hostgator.com , and this part of my program has stopped working. The first routine sends an analysis of a test to me at

hosting suggestion?

My web hosting company is closing business, and I less than two weeks to move my five sites to another host. All of these use perl. If you have experience with a host that supports perl, I’d appreciate any and all suggestions. I’m less concerned with cost than with service quality and support