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Re^3: If I could only own one Perl book, it would be:
by BerntB (Deacon) on May 24, 2006 at 12:53 UTC
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Works that way for me, I think better with a paper and pen.
I don't write out programs on paper, but I usually start by sketching out classes and methods on paper. The end result is faster than going directly to keyboard (for non-trivial problems).
I voted for Programming Perl, because it is complete.
My favorite Perl book is the first Advanced Perl, since I did Perl 4 before reading it (so others could read). I realized what I had been missing out of. I love it dearly.
(Update: Saw a few comments further down that Bart agrees with me.)
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Ah, but you never had to submit assignments of code on paper did you? (I do, though not in Perl, not yet. No lecturer knows perl. All of us students are entirely man-page-taught or The-Camel-taught.)
It just makes no sense to submit stuff that way, considering that if it were a complete program on a computer, you just compile and run and you find out if the thing works...
I totally understand about sketching out the idea on paper, I do that too - and my intention was not to cast stones (rocks? pebbles? what is the correct usage?) on that practice. Just a bit of college student spleen being vented, hopefully offending no one. :)
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Ah, but you never had to submit assignments of code on paper did you?
Yes. We called them "printouts". :-)
Proofs that a given algorithm worked in a given way would be written by hand on paper; anything that could be run submitted online, with documentation, and paper printouts for the convenience of the teaching assistants who graded most of the assignments.
It was easier for the TAs to run a test suite against the code; verify minimal correctness, and *then* audit the paper copies of the code for style and correctness, and submitting code online just made their lives a bit easier.
Some prof in a data structures class gave an assignment that basically said: "Implement a linked list datastructure in your language of choice"; some guy I knew decided to use Perl (which has list processing pretty much built in). The prof was not pleased; but gave full marks. He was more specific about choice of language the next time. That was back in 1993, so yes, professors know about Perl by now. They may or may not like it, but they know about it.
--
Ytrew
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Re^3: If I could only own one Perl book, it would be:
by spiritway (Vicar) on May 25, 2006 at 05:17 UTC
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And yes, people still write entire programs on paper, and pray that they haven't forgotten a semicolon somewhere. To what end? Beats me. You have to type it in anyway...
Some of that may be age-related. I was raised on pencil and paper, and still find that I think better when I can sketch things out on paper. Similarly, I find it almost impossible to read or proofread using the screen. I need to have a book or print something out onto paper. That's one reason I needed to get Programming Perl, even though much of that is contained in the perldocs or man pages. It's not just the content, it's also the presentation. For well over half my life, computers weren't even an option.
Typing in something you've written out by hand isn't always a waste of effort. By re-typing, you are forced to deal with your code on the level of characters or small units, which often helps you find errors you've made (usually typos, not logic errors).
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