in reply to How do I use Perl?

Depending on your programming background. You might want to wait diving through the DOCs and man pages. I didn't hit them till I was a little more versed

Learning Perl is good but I think Simon Cozen's Beginning Perl is better for the beginning programer. If you have the background, then LP will be good.

After you get your feet wet. Just play! Try out everything that sounds interesting!

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Re(2): How do I use Perl?
by FoxtrotUniform (Prior) on May 16, 2002 at 22:46 UTC

    Funny, I found the Llama difficult to get through because of my programming background; I thought it was too beginner-oriented. Haven't seen Beginning Perl, so I can't really comment.

    If you already have a fairly strong programming background, I'd suggest the Camel book and some nice crunchy problems.

    --
    :wq

[reply]

      Are we talking a developer or a guy who does programming from time to time?

      Usually the question of "I'm just getting started. How do I use Perl?" is a person who heard about it and wants to try it out, or a person who wants to be a system administrator and was told he has to know it, or a developer who wants to make a few things easier.

      But you are correct if you have a strong programming background, the Camel book is the better choice.

      But wouldn't you suggest the CookBook as well?

[reply]
        As tempting as it might be to recommend the cookbook, I think it is probably not best to start with it early. While it provides many versatile ingredients, some of them are basic, like pepper, but others are more advanced, like saffron. I think it is best to learn how to use the eggs and milk before you start spicing things up. Although one may not want to wait *too* long to pick it up either. I finally got it after writing perl for 4 years or so. Some of the contents I had already learned, alsewhere, and with considerable effort. Finally, many of the recipes are also rather specialized and of little use to a beginner let alone many intermediate or advanced programmers.

        --
        perl -pew "s/\b;([mnst])/'$1/g"

[reply]
        For a strong programmer I would say that Mastering Algorithms With Perl would be the ideal first book. You're already familiar with the algorithms so seeing them in a new language would make it all the easier to appreciate Perls many strengths (and the weaknesses too)

        Well, anyway, I learned more from PerlToot, PerlTootc, PerlBoot and Mastering Algorithms than I have from the rest of my Perl books together.

        Yves / DeMerphq
        ---
        Writing a good benchmark isnt as easy as it might look.

[reply]

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