Perl is a language flexible enough to let you make your own decisions about how to use it. You can optimize your code for performance, for compactness, or even for entertainment value. But what if you want to optimize it for not getting support calls in the middle of the night about strange behavior on your web site? What if you want to optimize it for spending your Saturday at the movies instead of in the debugger?

This talk will show you how to choose a dialect of Perl that suits your preferred level of risk. It won't be a simple prescription, but you will learn why avoiding certain constructs can lead to fewer nasty surprises and less difficulty integrating code written by a team. A little planning and a willingness to choose practical solutions over magic can really pay off in reduced debugging time.

Perl gives you a lot of rope, but it's not too late to learn some new knots.