We all learn at different speeds and many times the speed we learn at is proportional to the time we spend. If your life is busy and you only get a little bit of time to spend on this, the natural result is that it'll take longer to learn. That's natural and there's nothing wrong with that. I do applaud your willingness to hang in there and continue; I'm sure that determination will get you where you want eventually.

As to your problem, looking at and understanding classic problems is a decent way to learn. Many of us wouldn't solve it that way, but that's because we're probably trying to solve a business problem and not teach ourselves something. We'll grab the first thing that works and use it.

As I'm lazy, I'd probably just use the hash and do:

@arr = ( ...as defined in the problem... );
%h = map { $_ => undef } @arr;
print join(" , ",keys(%h)), "\n"';
[download]

There's probably even a way to do that in 1 line, but again, I'm lazy. :)

Besides all the other good advice you've been given, I'll add 1 more I didn't see (my apologies to anyone if I overlooked this in your post).

I believe someone did say they keep snippets of code, which we all do, but I'll advise you to go further. I actually keep a notebook of code examples and explanations from PerlMonks/blogs/web-searches/books/etc for reference, not to mention little things I've found on my own over time that are helpful. I put it in an electronic notebook for easy searching and organization (I use OneNote, but use whatever works for you). It's grown over the years and has become a helpful companion along the way -- a trusty toolbox of tips and tricks and reminders.

Good luck in your journey, and sign up and join us here too. :)

---

---

• Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
• Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:

  <code> <a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br /> <dd> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr /> <i> <li> <nbsp> <ol> <p> <small> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul>

• Snippets of code should be wrapped in <code> tags not <pre> tags. In fact, <pre> tags should generally be avoided. If they must be used, extreme care should be taken to ensure that their contents do not have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor intervention).
• Want more info? How to link or How to display code and escape characters are good places to start.