Yeah, stick with it. It takes time to absorb it all. Just try to learn 1 thing each day. Maybe what map is, or how to sort a hash, whatever. After a few years, you will be in the top 10%.

http://groups.google.com is very helpful figuring out what things are supposed to do. Search it for terms and read the expalnations.(like "perl sort hash")

It's all getting to be so complex now that you can't know it all, what you need to do is learn how to get answers for your particular problem. It's like swimming.....you just keep your head above water, in the giant ocean of ever-changing information.

And don't forget to keep plenty of sample scripts, and script tidbits as you experiment...... at our age we forget after a few weeks.

Finally, one of my favorite sayings, attributed to Einstein, is "depression is the wellspring of inspiration". What he meant, is that when faced with some seemingly overwhelming problem, he would get depressed at the thought of having to solve it. But that depression, slowed his mind down enough, to see the solution. So don't be dissappointed that you get depressed when facing a big problem. Your mind will keep hacking away, until, voila, you comprehend. I go thru this all the time...(but of course I'm an unemployable misfit :-) ).