Sure all Perl functions probably come in handy, but some more than others. So, it might be an interesting project for PerlMonks to rank functions according to their relative importance and usefulness. This kind of info would be great for newbies like me and perfect for the tutorial section.

For instance, I was just perusing "Learning Perl" for some light reading and came across the dbmopen function. "Is this function really useful?" I thought. "Should I learn it inside and out or should I just make a mental note of it and move on?"

I counted roughly 235 Perl functions so ranking them wouldn't be that onerous. Functions could be ranked with a simple system:
5: Essential, know cold
4: Used frequently, know well
3: Can come in handy on occasions, dog ear this in the Camel book
2: Rarely used, for Monk use only
1: Deprecated/extinct

A similar system would also be great for modules (maybe ranking the "Top 25" with a brief description of when they come in handy). Yes, the rankings would have some subjectivity, but I think it would definitely speed the process of learning Perl.

In reply to Which Perl functions are ireally/i useful? by nysus

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