Fwd: Re: [MacPerl] Where to start?

[robinmcf]

Ken Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> I like Learning Perl too, but I've actually found it useless for >> absolute beginners........ What would really be great is to have a real >>textbook for a >> course like.......I'm not sure whether the publishers would perceive a >>need for such a >>textbook. you could of course always write one and try and get it published - use your old lesson notes as a base.... "Lucia Liljegren" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >With no knowledge of Perl (or C, or C++ or Sed or AWK) I found >"Learning Perl" to be an excellent book ...On the other hand, Programming >Perl is a >frustrating to use when you begin a course of self study. Even if you know >some >programming, the book is not organized for a person who doesn't know any >Perl. I agree that Programming Perl is frustrating for trying to learn the basics of perl. The problem (for me) with Programming Perl was the number of times it uses 'like the "C" function BLAH()' or 'see MAN(x') by way of explanation instead of simply explaining WTF FUNCTION_X() does for ppl not on Unix systems (no MAN to read) or who aren't migrating from 'C' (don't have a clue what '"C" function BLAH()' does) , but then it's basically a hard copy of the PODs which come with Perl - there are some very minor changes and additions in terms of content, but the biggest difference is the organisation of the topics, which are actually designed for it to be used as a reference rather than a text book as such. For a while I wished there was a book somewhere in between Learning Perl and Programming Perl, but once I'd absorbed a largish amount of Unix lore things started slotting into place. The persistence of Unix in Perl is inescapable, even our own Vicki Brown (co-author of 'Mac Perl Power and Ease') states in her bio her favourite OS is Unix, and Mac is her favorite user interface - that's an important distinction. Robin