Browsing StackOverflow on perl-related topics, I have two main considerations: 1. Answers are typically very good, concise and useful 2. Questions are submitted with code that doesn't have 'warnings' enabled I'd say that a considerable portion of the questions submitted would not be posted, or would be less generic, if authors used 'use warnings;' in their code. Then add a pinch of the great perl critic , and possibly only half of the questions would really be submitted. If you're using perl, or plan to use it, I strongly recommend to: 1. Always set 'use warnings;' 2. Always submit your code to perl critic (and keep a copy of Perl Best Practices handy). 3. First create the tests, then write the code. That's the only reasonable way (unless you're working on a one-liner for a quick admin task). TDD is your friend . See more on Perl Critic here .