Hi monks,

I am new to this site but I am not totally new to perl.

I want to review (talk about) some of the best ways to learn perl and how I learned perl. I learned perl from Learning Perl. It is very simple and doesn't "assume" that you know anything about perl. It is a great book for experts to brush up on subjects and awesome for the begginer. Some books discourage people from learning perl but I think that this book makes people want to learn perl. Learning Perl is a great starting step but they're many more steps to go to be a "master" of perl. One suggestion I have for continueing your perl knownledge is other books in the Learning Perl series such as: The Perl Cookbook, and Programming Perl (I know there is another one I can't think of it off the top of my head). These are all considered to be in the same series. If you look up any of the authors at your local library you will find many many more good perl books by them. I suggest for any of the new people to perl that they sign up to a helpful site like this one :) or Usenet:). The wise monks or users there will tell you all about perl and solve any questions of yours. They also are great comedians and nice friends sometimes. I have already asked things on both sites and gotten very intellegent answers in response. Just for those users or begginers or both that it might apply to....there are stupid questions on usenet and perlmonks and in my opinion there always in something stupid to ask, but in this situation the stupid questions are the ones that can be answered by other posts that you were to lazy to look at, that are in man perl or the docs, or that you answer later and waste someones time asking them.

GOOD LUCK!

-perl usr

Edited by footpad, ~ Sat Sep 21 21:12:34 2002 (UTC) : Added HTML formatting.

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Re: Reviewing Learning Perl "The Llama"
by atcroft (Abbot) on Sep 21, 2002 at 08:31 UTC

    First of all, welcome to the site.

    A lot of good information in your posting. As with all things, each will learn according to h[is|er] talents and weaknesses. I, for one, like to hear about what has helped others in learning about perl, because in my job, I am the person that gets asked questions regarding perl. When someone is interested in trying to learn about perl, sooner or later they generally come to me. Having seen what works for others can be helpful to me in that regard because if they don't learn as well from one resource, perhaps seeing how someone else responded can make me more effective in directing them to something that perhaps handles it in a different way that is more effective for them.

    I must admit that I haven't really used my copy of the llama book that much personally, but it does get used a good bit-often I end up loaning it to someone at my desk because they want to see what it is like, then they turn around and buy their own copy of it. From what I hear back, it makes for a very good introduction. (merlyn++) For myself, I tend to reach more for some of the other perl books that O'Reilly & Associates have out (I haven't counted since my response to How Many Perl Books Do You Own?).

    I thought I had a basic grasp of perl when I first found this site, but in the time here, I have learned a good bit, and a good bit about what I still have left to learn. It still amazes me sometimes when I see that someone of the stature (in the perl community) of merlyn, thedamian, davorg, elian, and others, taking the time to visit the site, post replies, or even spend time in the CB. The site not only helped educate me on the perl language, but introduce me to the casual closeness and willingness to aid honest efforts that makes the perl community so unique.

    __________
    "I am but an egg."

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Re: Reviewing Learning Perl "The Llama"
by schweini (Friar) on Sep 21, 2002 at 03:41 UTC
    i'd also recommend ORA's excellent "perl bookshelf" CD-ROM.
    the books are a bit dated, but it still rocks if you have to look up something quickly...
    regarding questions, there's this cool guide to asking questions the smart way
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        Why does the time show that was posted 30 minutes before my reply below? It wasn't there when I went to post. Something off with the timezones?

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      the books are a bit dated

      Not anymore!

      And the peasants rejoiced... =D

      Mind you, I still prefer Safari.

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      The perl bookshelf is an awesome collection and the CD-ROM is excellent. As for the write up on asking questions, that is an extremely helpful write up for begginers who don't know how to ask without being flammed. (not like a monk would ever flame a fellow monk :) Thanks for the intellectual reply schweini :) -perl usr
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Re: Reviewing Learning Perl "The Llama"
by talexb (Chancellor) on Sep 22, 2002 at 03:10 UTC
    Welcome!

      If you look up any of the authors at your local library you will find many many more good perl books by them.
    Let me encourage you to look no further than the O'Reilly web site for your source of technical publications. The Perl section lists all of their Perl books, and I'd encourage you to buy as many as you can -- a library book has to go back after two or three weeks, but you'll need these around for a long time to come.

    I have close to 30 O'Reilly books -- that's quite an investment, but they are very solid, and I highly recommend them.

    --t. alex
    but my friends call me T.

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Re: Reviewing Learning Perl "The Llama"
by kryberg (Pilgrim) on Sep 26, 2002 at 01:33 UTC
    Before getting into perl, I had done some C++, Visual Basic, and JavaScript, so I had some knowledge of programming, so my reaction might be different than someone starting to learn programming with perl.

    I had heard people talk about the Llama book and the Camel book like they were the bibles of perl programming. So, I dutifully got the Llama book (Learning Perl 3rd Edition). I tried to read it but never got past chapter 5 (out of 17). I thought it was boring and the footnotes were distracting because I always feel compelled to read them.

    I like to see lots of code examples within the context of a functional program. I much preferred the Deitel book Perl How to Program. It has some errors/outdated information, but is much more visually appealing and straight forward, with code in the context of working programs. It will get you going much faster than the Llama book.

    For more information and more advance programming the Camel book (Programming Perl) and the Perl Cookbook are excellent references. And of course Perl Monks is the ultimate resource.

    The fastest way someone is going to learn though is not to read a book or take a class, but to have an honest-to-goodness work assignment (not some assignment at the end of a chapter in a book) and have to figure it out using whatever resources are available.
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