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Just had my last Perl class today :D: . As a whole; I like the language. All I need now are some good suggestions for expanding my usage of it.
I'm considering learning more also (PHP, Python and Java are in my sights now). What I'd really like to do is use Perl, and get really good at it. I'm already checking out tutorials on the internet, and I've got a couple of pet projects that I'm tackling right away. Any other ideas/comments? I know I may get for some fire on my butt for asking; I hoping I'll get some thoughtful comments anyway ;). Thanks.
I suggest getting the latest "Programming Perl" by O'reilly, and reading through it. Unless you're very new to programming, in which case you might rather have "Learning Perl" (also O'reilly).
The absolute best way to learn any language is to use it. Figure out what you want to do; make sure your task is well defined. Determine what parts of perl you'll need to use (i.e file i/o, regular expressions, networking, cgi, etc.) and if you're not familiar with it, read up on it. (There should be plenty of online reources). Then implement it. Figure out what you did wrong, and fix it. Polish it. fix it again. Reimplement it with a better design. fix it again and repolish it. Then post it here for us to poke at. :D
Thanks for the tips kmj :). I have both Perl books now (though the classes helped a great deal). I also have Mastering Regular Expressions... coming this week.
Dru Lee Parsec
02-07-2002, 01:03 PM
The absolute best way to learn any language is to use it.
So true. The more keyboard time you can put in the better you'll be. The other big way to get better is to work on other people's (better programmer's) code.
Thanks again guys. Seeing as I don't have a job doing this stuff yet; I have to rely on my own drive, curousity, and a couple of tasks that I'd really like to get done easily (with a little hard work to start). A fair balance of reading and doing should keep my skills up to par.