Consider well the example of Matt Wright's Script Archives if you don't get my point...

Actually, I think you just reinforced mine! Think about it: we all know how bad Matt's code, when treated as complete works, actually is. But, there is a lot someone who is an absolute beginner can learn from looking at functional (however lousy) code - syntax, in particular. Again, it's the Hop on Pop problem; nobody would call Hop on Pop one of the great works of Western literature, and nobody would call Matt's form-mailer a great example of perl, but that doesn't mean you can't learn a lot about how the language is put together from them.

Think of it another way: if you knew nothing about C++, wouldn't having the source to ANY program at all, even hello.cpp, help you learn the idiosyncracies of the language ("cout()" for example)? Yes, there is the potential for the "blind leading the blind," but OTOH the ultimate judgement on a beginning-level book needs to be a beginner saying "I was able to learn perl from this" or "I was unable to learn perl from this" -- and that is a judgement that we cannot, by definition, make.

Spud Zeppelin * spud@spudzeppelin.com