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Old 04-25-2003, 09:09 AM   #1
WorldBuilder
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Don't know C, wanna learn PERL, is this ok?


Hi all,

I don't know C, and I want to learn PERL. Should I learn C before I go to PERL, or can I learn PERL independently? Thanks.

Chris
 
Old 04-25-2003, 09:14 AM   #2
wapcaplet
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There's no need to learn C before learning Perl, since the two are completely unrelated.

However, if you have never learned any programming language, it might be kind of hard to learn Perl. It's a very ugly language

There are lots of good books out there on Perl, though. O'Reilly seems to have the best books on it.
 
Old 04-25-2003, 01:07 PM   #3
nakkaya
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they are not related to each other yes it is possible to learn
 
Old 04-25-2003, 01:33 PM   #4
zsejk
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I agree... it *is* possible to study PERL without knowing C or C++. I don't think it will be a very pleasant experience though, since as someone already mentioned above PERL is not very neat nor very study-friendly for the complete novice.

That said, I recommend you start with "Learning Perl" by Randal L. Schwartz and Tom Phoenix (3rd edition) from the O'Reilly company ('m actually reading that right now... it's really nice). Try to go through the first few chapters in that, and see if you can follow along. If it seems too hard, perhaps you can try to get a very basic understanding of C or C++ first, and then return to the book. A really nice book for learning C++ is "C++: How to Program" by Deitel and Deitel. It's not very cheap, but it is really a very good book for a complete programming novice.



I'll leave you with a quote from the Perl book mentioned above:
Quote:
In the end, you'll understand Perl better because of your study of language X [fill in random other language here -zsejk], and vice versa, so it will be time well spent."
-zsejk
 
Old 04-25-2003, 02:00 PM   #5
rshaw
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or you could learn python, all the power without the retarded syntax.
 
Old 04-25-2003, 02:29 PM   #6
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Yeh, i'd tried C a few times, and always got stuck fairly early on.

Learnt perl n.p.
 
Old 04-25-2003, 09:10 PM   #7
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after learning php and html and some javascript, i'm starting to take on more "powerful" languages like Perl and C with no problem. You'll come to find that in some ways, syntaxes(sp?) can be similar in many ways, and the way in which you code one language might carry out into other languages.

Don't sweat it...it can be done just fine, just it would be faster and easier if you knew another language first, imho
 
Old 04-25-2003, 11:21 PM   #8
m0rl0ck
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UGLY!!! RETARDED SYNTAX!!!!

Perl is a beautiful language, it just takes a sophisticated eye to appreciate its beauty, in some what the same way that it takes a sophisticated eye to appreciate cubism or surrealism.

And as for retarded syntax, perl, like natural language allows you to say what you mean, and then the code actually runs!!


Perl is a language of such beauty that you can write (sometimes even good) poetry in it.
http://www.samag.com/documents/s=1274/sam05010012/

You are blasphemers and philistines!!!!!!!!




Edit: I dont know c, perl didnt (what I know of it) seem that hard because its so much like a natural language that you can pick it up a little at a time, like a real language.

PERL RULES!!!

Last edited by m0rl0ck; 04-25-2003 at 11:24 PM.
 
Old 04-26-2003, 12:51 AM   #9
rshaw
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>>And as for retarded syntax, perl, like natural language allows you to say what you mean.

yeah, 50 different ways to do the same thing, sounds like a good idea until you have to read/maintain someone elses code, or build an app. larger than 100 lines.
 
Old 04-26-2003, 02:47 AM   #10
zsejk
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Noone said it is retarded, just that it is not very neat, which, as rshaw points out above, becomes a bit of a problem when you start having to work with other people's codes.

-zsejk
 
Old 04-26-2003, 09:21 AM   #11
Hangdog42
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Amen brother mOrlOck....

PERL was the first language I learned and it was really no problem for exactly the reasons mOrlOck points out. The only "problem" with PERL is that it doesn't enforce any of the rules that an object oriented language like C or Java so it is real easy to write convoluted code.

After I learned PERL I found that learning a second language like Java was much easier. I'm now functionally illiterate in both!
 
Old 04-26-2003, 06:16 PM   #12
wapcaplet
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Quote:
Originally posted by m0rl0ck
Perl is a beautiful language, it just takes a sophisticated eye to appreciate its beauty, in some what the same way that it takes a sophisticated eye to appreciate cubism or surrealism.
Oh, I definitely agree. I'm not a Perl guru or anything, but it certainly has that minimalist elegance to it that is pervasive in all things Unix Though, you gotta admit, it's going to look like gobbledygook to a beginning programmer, which is why I said it's ugly. Though it sounds like some of you guys have learned Perl as a first language... bravo!

I think if I were just starting programming, and I decided to learn Perl first, I'd take one look at it and run off to find a more sensible vocation like ditch-digging It is certainly not for the timid.
 
Old 04-27-2003, 02:58 AM   #13
GtkUser
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Learn C if you want to study the implementation of the Linux Platform. Perl, or Python are good system administration langauges, plus more, for example, I have seen how Python is used to wrap Gtk+ allowing you to use widgets (GUI components) with Python. And if you want to use a user-mode object oriented operating system than learn Java.

Last edited by GtkUser; 04-27-2003 at 03:00 AM.
 
  


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