In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Mr. Shawn H. Corey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Chris wrote: > > I'm working on yet another exercise from Intermediate Perl. I've been > > given a script that searches for files that fall between a two > > timestamps. > Why do people who write these books have exercises of little practical value? Exercises are a tough thing. The trick is to: * find something that demonstrates the feature being discussed * doesn't need features you haven't shown yet * isn't saddled with a unfamiliar problem domain * can be completed with what the student likely has already installed * is limited enough that it can be completed in a reasonable time * works for the entire audience Anything with "practical value" is likely to not actually be very practical to someone else. In this case, sysadmins may think the exercise is very practical, but bio-informaticists may not. However, practicality is the wrong way to learn. We don't intend to teach anyone how to do a specific task. We're teaching the tools people can use to solve all sorts of different tasks. Learn to use the tool and you can do a lot. Learn a task, and that's all you can do. Please feel free to send me suggestions for different exercises for the second edition, or point me toward the book that you wrote so I can look at your exercises to see how I might make things more practical. :) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://learn.perl.org/
