Thanks to the Catalyst mailing list, I was finally able to get that auto function working! One of the members also directed me to a more current version of the tutorial. I downloaded the .pod files and learned about turning them into .html (using a command called pod2html -- who'da thunk?).

I found some more Catalyst documentation and explanations, such as a couple of tutorials on concepts such as web framework, MVC (Model-View-Controller), etc. 

I spent the last half or so of the day on Subversion, an open-source version control system designed to be the successor to CVS (Concurrent Versions System). A version control system is a cross between a time machine and a sharing coordinator for your files. It keeps track of changes to the files so that you can compare your file to older versions or even roll it back to an earlier version. It also allows multiple users to check out and edit the same files, then merges (or attempts to merge) the updated files as those users check them back in.

Subversion provides a very good online book that helped me understand what a version control system is, how to get started with Subversion, and so on. Searchable mailing list archives and a FAQ are also available.

I put together a sort of cheat sheet from what I read and did a test run of moving files into Subversion's control. After that, I was going to go ahead and move the files Nate and I have been working with into Subversion, but I decided to hold off until he gives me the OK because I could easily break something pretty badly.