Re: Perl Programming within Debian
On Sat, 30 Dec 2006 15:49:08 -0500
"Leonid Grinberg" <lgrinberg@gmail.com> wrote:
> OK, several things:
>
> Perl does NOT encourage bad behavior. It simply makes it easier to code poorly.
> Perl is not as difficult to learn as people say it is.
>
> The best place to start would be Google. That is how I learned it. The
> package ``perl'' will have the interpreter. The package perl-doc will
> have the command ``perldoc'' (yes, the package has a dash - the
> program does not). perldoc has lots of nice documentation. I suggest
> getting ``Learning Perl'' and ``The Perl Cookbook'' if you can. Also,
> sign up for the mailing list beginners@perl.org where many nice people
> will help you use the language.
>
I just looked on http://lists.cpan.org/ and there were 266 mailing lists related to Perl. This shows how popular it is but can also be off-putting for a newcomer to the language. Which list to choose? Several are for beginners.
I purchased the O'Reilly book Learning Perl and it is the only O'Reilly book I have ever regretted buying. The examples are contrived and confusing; the authors seem more concerned with being humorous then with being educational.
OTOH the O'Reilly book Learning Python was clear, concise and informative which is one reason why I now use Python (still learning)
> Any extension works, but .pl is conventional for command line.
> Sometimes, people give it no extension at all. For web servers, either
> .cgi or .pl are usually used.
>
> Good luck! Feel free to email me if you have any questions!
>
>
>
At the end of the day it's whatever you feel most comfortable with.
--
John K Masters - User #417400 in the Linux Counter http://counter.li.org/
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