in reply to Good Textbook for Teaching Perl?

"Elements of Programming With Perl," 1884777805 and "Perl Black Book, 2nd Edition," 1588801934 (comes with a CD of the book code) are worth looking at. The second is huge but would be easy to plan lessons with by jumping around and it touches lightly on almost all things Perl.

While I find the O'Reilly books very valuable in retrospect, generally higher quality of code, I own them all so don't flame me, and so on, none of them is a good teaching book, especially for those without a fair amount of UNIX and C background. I taught myself Perl with them, without any other help and with only a little BASIC in my formative years, and I wish I'd found the cookbook and "Programming Perl" after those other books when I was ready for them.

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•Re: Re: Good Textbook for Teaching Perl?
by merlyn (Sage) on Apr 09, 2003 at 15:42 UTC
    especially for those without a fair amount of UNIX and C background
    Hmm. Are you basing this on earlier editions of Learning Perl? We worked very hard to eliminate Unix-isms and the "like C" phrases completely out of the third edition. I would definitely agree with you about earlier editions, as well.

    -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
    Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.

[reply]
      I think you did a pretty good job at doing so. I remember a small number of places where you mention how Perl derives feature X from Unix, and I don't think I can remember any spots beyond the first section or two where any C-like references are made.

      I haven't picked up Learning Perl for Win32 Systems (so I have to ask this in ignorance), but why the need for two books? I think your Learning Perl book serves equally well on both platforms. Is it for people who cannot think outside of the Windows box, or are there other aspects to the book to make it easier for people who only use Windows?

      MrCromeDome

[reply]
        I intended to make the Gecko book obsolete, incorporating all of its features into the third edition of the Llama, and I believe I have succeeded in that. Llama 3rd edition is practically platform neutral, and the oddities of the ancient ActiveState Perl have been eliminated because all versions now build from one source.

        However, I'm not in charge at O'Reilly. They appear to be unwilling to cancel a stale book that still has a (mis)percieved need (as in, it's still selling many copies), and I can see their reason for that, so I'm not fighting it. (The extra $200 or so a month I make from it probably influences my decision there. {grin})

        -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
        Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.

[reply]
      Sorry took so long to reread these. You are correct. The one I own is not the current edition which I've never had a look at. So the new version might be a better choice for non-programmers to start with. I'll give it a look again if I ever follow through with my threat to quit my current job and start a small Perl training lab. :)
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Re: Re: Good Textbook for Teaching Perl?
by elbow (Scribe) on Apr 09, 2003 at 06:48 UTC
    Not sure I'd recommend the "Perl Black Book" for teaching myself...I've got a copy I use for reference at work but I think I'd have found it difficult to teach myself Perl with.
    However, as someone who taught themselves (with no prior C or UNIX experience) I concur with just about everyone else who's recommended Learning Perl with Effective Perl Programming.

    elbow
[reply]

      Not sure I'd recommend the "Perl Black Book" for teaching myself.

      /me would not recommend it. I read it, and did not like it. There's a review here.

      If you need a reference, use perldoc.

      Juerd
- http://juerd.nl/
- spamcollector_perlmonks@juerd.nl (do not use).

[reply]

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