You are on the right track, but you are falling a little short. Perl is about as similar to Javascript as a Ford is to a Chevy, and is about as similar to BASIC as a Ford is to an airplane.

In a perfect world where time is not an issue, the best way to pick up a new language is to really understand what a language is in general. Then you don't have to waste time memorizing the syntax. The only exception I can think of are languages that require you to think in a new way, such as Lisp and Scheme.

If you get the chance, take a compiler course. Understand how to create a language, write code that recognizes syntactical words, write code that makes sense out of the order of those words/symbols, then translate that language into the neccessary machine code that actually moves them 1's and 0's around. If you have the time that is.

As for books, read as much as you can. Then go back and read some more - go back over the basics again and again until you code in your dreams. O'reilly and Addison-Wesley make some of the best around, IMHO.

Jeff

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
F--F--F--F--F--F--F--F--
(the triplet paradiddle)