in reply to Re: Perl Man Pages
in thread Perl Man Pages

Three years ago, I would have agreed with you and I certainly have a few copies of both books lying around, but they are primarily for those quiet moments in the men's room. Nowadays, at the desk, I use perldoc exclusively when I want to look for something and C:/Perl/html/ when I want to browse through pages of docs. Paper is just no substitute, I'm afraid.

BTW, both are available in digital form, for example here,which is far more useful as you can copy and paste the examples into your program when coding. He he. Instant expert.

--
Regards,
Helgi Briem
helgi AT decode DOT is

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Books still work
by logan (Curate) on Jan 14, 2003 at 19:14 UTC
    I beg to differ. I have found that paper is far superior to perldoc. My books are highlighted, personalized, annotated, and can be used to kill spiders. Books clutter my physical desktop, but not my virtual desktop, which is far smaller. When was the last time you tried annotating an html file? Realistically, you can't do it. You'd have to start a separate text file of notes.

    I won't argue that having html and perldoc for documentation isn't useful, because it is. And, true, having both the Perl Bookshelf and the Lincoln Stein CGI book in a digital form has been hugely convenient. Still, I wouldn't give up my books for anything. Sometimes, I just like to (gasp!) walk away from my PC, plunk myself down somewhere else, and read.

    -Logan
    "What do I want? I'm an American. I want more."

[reply]
      I'm of the same mind, Logan. I mean, I love having perldoc for fast stuff, and I'm also the proud owner of the Perl CD Bookshelves 1 and 2 as well as many other CD bookshelves for convenience, but I like to have hardcopy as well. It's nice to be able to read about Perl when I can't be writing it. =)

      ~Brian
[reply]
      I only use the dead tree books for "the reading room" nowadays.

      --
      Regards,
      Helgi Briem
      helgi AT decode DOT is

[reply]
Re: Perl Man Pages
by chicks (Scribe) on Jan 14, 2003 at 15:00 UTC
      Three years ago, I would have agreed with you and I certainly have a few copies of both books lying around... Nowadays, at the desk, I use perldoc exclusively

    Given that the guy said he's a perl newbie and a programming newbie, the books would almost certainly be better for him.

[reply]
      I disagree. There is nothing better nor more important for a Perl newbie to learn than how to use perldoc.

      It should be the first line in every post.

      It should be in the Perl Monks logo.

      Learn to use perldoc. You'll never regret it.

      --
      Regards,
      Helgi Briem
      helgi AT decode DOT is

[reply]
        I love perldoc and I teach it prominently when I teach Perl, but I also make sure the students have a good book to read. A book will never beat the perldoc for being there when I'm actually coding or being useful as a reference. I would hate to have to program without a local perldoc and search.cpan.org, but it would have taken me a lot longer to make effective use of them if weren't for a few good books. Perldocs and books each has their own place, but given a choice between a nice ORA book and a print-out of any perldoc, the ORA book wins hands down for long distance journeys and short trips to the bathroom. In those ways and a multitude of others, the dead tree is still far better. Given that many people are more comfortable learning that way and aren't likely to ever find the screen a more comforting source of consuming large volumes of new knowledge, your "nothing better" is a much more personal statement than a universal one.
[reply]

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom