well I don't know if we are discussing the right question and comparing languages on a fair base...

The simpler the functionality of a language is the easier you will be able to "try-and-error" it.

My first language was Commodore BASIC and it's indeed basic, and wouldn't be fair to be compared to something as powerful as Perl.

I agree with you that there not many good sources for JS, basically because most people "try-and-errored" it before writing their manuals. And to be precise I'm only talking about the core language NOT the bitches of DOM or the BOM.

I don't know if I should recommend "JS - The good parts" from D. Crockford, because in comparison to his websites there are not many new information and the structure of the book is somehow disappointing. If you prefer Books buy it!

To get back to Perl, I started Perl coming from Bash with a try and error approach - and continued for years like that! No books, just online manuals and I'm horrified when I think about the problems I ran in and the code I produced.

PBP definitely changed my live! (more the explanation not the recommendations)

And I think it's reasonable to say that a language which is the KING of golfing has lot's of traps for the unaware.

Just to name a few: The concept of context, two kinds of variables, the difference between $a[1] and @a[1], the difference about defining function with empty prototype () or not...

I'm really impressed by the orthogonality of Python (well in theory), but I'm too fascinated of features like closures to switch now (and get practical experience)

I think my next language will either be Perl6 or Ruby...