I have a few strategies for speeding up my understanding of a programming language, in the case of Perl I tend to:

• implement basic algorithms that I understand in other programming languages (programming contests, puzzles are pretty good if you are in that frame of mind and have the time)
• dig around test suites and seek out well written unit tests that test functionality I understand
• don't skimp on taking the time to optimize your dev environment, code completion in emacs, running things automatically, etc ... becoming more efficient means you spend more time learning
• browse the source code on CPAN

When learning a language it can help to associate yourself with better programmers, PerlMonks is a good place to start but you may want to find an Open Source Perl project and help out ... you will learn from the core developers on the project

Note that trial and error can be useful sometimes for getting 'muscle memory', but try to avoid too much 'hunt and peck' style of learning and never underestimate the value of instruction from others who know more.

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