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Re^3: How does one learn perl programming efficiently - if they do not come from computer science background? (Data Structure References)

by eyepopslikeamosquito (Archbishop)
on Nov 28, 2016 at 06:54 UTC ( [id://1176684]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to Re^2: How does one learn perl programming efficiently - if they do not come from computer science background?
in thread How does one learn perl programming efficiently - if they do not come from computer science background?

> I found that if I got the data structures correct, the code usually flowed. If not, things got messy fast.

This reminds me of some famous quotes from Fred Brooks, Rob Pike, Eric S. Raymond, and Linus Torvalds:

The programmer at wit's end for lack of space can often do best by disentangling himself from his code, rearing back, and contemplating his data. Representation is the essence of programming.

-- from The Mythical Man Month by Fred Brooks

Data dominates. If you've chosen the right data structures and organized things well, the algorithms will almost always be self-evident. Data structures, not algorithms, are central to programming.

-- Rob Pike

Show me your code and conceal your data structures, and I shall continue to be mystified. Show me your data structures, and I won't usually need your code; it'll be obvious.

-- Eric S. Raymond

I will, in fact, claim that the difference between a bad programmer and a good one is whether he considers his code or his data structures more important. Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships.

-- Linus Torvalds

A few classic performance quotes:

Don't diddle code to make it faster -- find a better algorithm.

-- The Elements of Programming Style

Don’t Optimize Code -- Benchmark It.

-- from Ten Essential Development Practices by Damian Conway

The real problem is that programmers have spent far too much time worrying about efficiency in the wrong places and at the wrong times; premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming.

-- Donald Knuth

Perl Data Structure References

  • YAML - YAML Ain't Markup Language
  • JSON - JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) encoder/decoder
  • JSON::MaybeXS - Use Cpanel::JSON::XS with a fallback to JSON::XS and JSON::PP
  • TOML - Parser for Tom's Obvious, Minimal Language
  • TOML Spec (github)

  • Sereal - Fast, compact, powerful binary (de-)serialization
  • SerealX::Store - Sereal based persistence for Perl data structures
  • Config::Any - Load configuration from different file formats, transparently
  • Config::Tiny - Read/Write .ini style files with as little code as possible
  • Config::INI - simple .ini-file format

  • feature - note that Perl 5.34+ allows you to disable old Perl 4 multidimensional array emulation via the 'multidimensional' feature
  • perl 5.36 delta - ... and that use v5.36; disables multidimensional array emulation

  • Data::Dumper - stringified perl data structures, suitable for both printing and eval
  • Data::Dump - Pretty printing of data structures

Build and Test Automation References

Database References

  • EAV (wikipedia)

See Also

Updated: added "Perl Data Structure References" section. Added a few classic performance quotes.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^4: How does one learn perl programming efficiently - if they do not come from computer science background?
by Your Mother (Archbishop) on Nov 29, 2016 at 03:04 UTC

    I knew the Raymond quote because it’s used as a chapter intro in some Perl book or another. I didn’t know the others. Good to see them.

Re^4: How does one learn perl programming efficiently - if they do not come from computer science background?
by jmlynesjr (Deacon) on Nov 29, 2016 at 01:48 UTC

    Great quotes! "The Mythical Man Month" should be required reading.

    James

    There's never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over...

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