I don't know whether this is the good way, but I got started by reading the manpage: perldoc perl, which gives you a list of other manpages to read, in order: perlsyn for syntax, perldata for data structures, perlop for operators, perlsub for writing functions, etc.

With this, you can start writing your own programs. They're likely to look ugly at first, but that's ok. They'll improve with time.

Once you know the basics, I advise you haunt the Monastery, or you subscribe to some Perl Mongers mailing list (if they talk tech stuff, that is). I learnt a hell of a lot by lurking on the Paris Perl Mongueurs' mailing list. This is one of the best ways I know of improving your expressiveness, your fluency in Perl. For instance, perlop will sure tell you about the ||=, but I had to read someone else's post to discover that it could be used to give default values.

Finally, buy (and read) books: the Camel Book seems a must have to me. It explains all the nifty features you knew would work but always wondered how. The Cookbook is also a very good read.

Just my two €0.02

--bwana147