There was a time when I was trying to learn shell (bash) programming and thought that I was understanding everything that I read -- it seemed almost too simple. It wasn't until trying it out and learning to troubleshoot really made the lessons stick in my mind (and realize that I wasn't really 'getting it').

Same thing as I now try to learn Perl. I have only peeked at Appendix "a" one time before forcing myself to figure it out. Now at half way through the book, I am feeling very comfortable.

Just thought I'd share.