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Re: How do you master Perl?

by chas (Priest)
on Apr 11, 2005 at 14:46 UTC ( [id://446630]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to How do you master Perl?

"Reinvent the wheel"
I'm really glad to read your comments on this. I spent a lot of time figuring out how to unencode form data, parse email headers, etc, etc and then finally used the appropriate module to achieve that. But I learned a whole lot. I'd often get accused of trying to reinvent the wheel, but my thought was always that if someone had figured out how to do those things I ought to be able to do it also...well, maybe my self confidence was more than was due, but the exercises were really instructive!
Great post!
chas

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Re^2: How do you master Perl?
by Steve_p (Priest) on Apr 11, 2005 at 20:28 UTC

    When I have gotten past the basics of a particular language, I start to think about other play projects I've worked on and try to decide how to reimplement them in the new language. Things I like to try are

    • building a binary heap
    • building a simple HTTP library
    • implementing various sort algorithms
    • parsing an RSS file

    These kinds of little projects for me help me to get a gauge for what the language is like and what its strengths and weaknesses are. It also helps me to understand the gaps I currenly have in my understanding of that language.

      I know of another Steve that does the same thing. He wrote a module he called Node.pm and is now polishing up a rewrite of it in Ruby (Node.rb). I think he's rewriting UMENU in Ruby, too. That certainly strikes me as a good way to learn things in a new language: it provides a clear, simple benchmark against which to evaluate your progress.

      print substr("Just another Perl hacker", 0, -2);
      - apotheon
      CopyWrite Chad Perrin

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