hello,

i think its about time i learn perl, the only thing i know how to do in perl is to make sure the shebang line is pointing to the correct interpriter, beyond that i know squat.

so i am just going to blurt out and say it, where do i start?

can some one please recommend a good guide on starting with perl.


thanks
antken

If you're already an experienced programmer, I recommend o'reilly's "programming perl".. if you're somewhat new to programming or generally more timid, then "learning perl."

You can find a lot of Perl related documents here:
http://www.maththinking.com/boat/computerbooks.html

And Perl package also comes with tutorials/documents, try running (you have to have perldoc package installed):
perldoc perl

as neo77777 suggested here:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...icks+and+hints

I suggest you start here:

http://www.python.org/doc

See this post for reasons why, as well as more resources.

lol Strike, i went to this post just to see if you would do that because i read the perl rant 1st.

Hehe...Strike and his Python pimping

If you are STILL interested in Perl after this, i would recommend visiting perldoc. It has almost everything you'd ever need to know about Perl. As far as books go, i only have one, Perl, How to program, by Deitel & Deitel. It's a good book, but damn expensive.

i just learned perl this summer, and just started playing with tk today actually. i started out with the o'reilly perl books. the camel one first. thats a really good place to get a good start. i think thats a good one because its good for people who know other languages (i knew c++ going in) and for people who don't know any languages. and i still use it for random syntax references.

Sam's books are the best (unless you need a nice nutshell type book, then Reilly or even [some will want to kill me for saying this] a Deidel and Deidel book is the very best). Other than those three aforementioned books, I would avoid any other book until you could actually claim to be a programmer.

Speaking of Sam's: Sams could improve the 24 hours or 21 days themes to learn something into "You will learn Perl in 24 hours or someone will come to your house and kill you. That's our guarantee--we stand by it whole-heartedly." Man, I bet people would really pay attention and find a way somehow to become programming gurus.

So, if I want to go Python, how do I make it do Perl stuff? (ie html manipulation?)
I'm learning both right now.

titanium_geek

Python can do almost everything Perl can do (and some will say even better). If you want to learn Perl and don't have the time/money to get a book, I'd recommend this: http://learn.perl.org/library/beginning_perl/. It's very kind to beginners. As for Python, it is IMO much easier to learn than Perl and it will teach you good programming habits. If you're serious about learning Python pickup Core Python by Wesley Chun, it's a very nice intro to new Python programmers.

this is a great book as far as html. this is what i learned perl on and was able to use it for daily use on my home box for small tasks that i didn't want to do myself (import, update simple database)

Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web

or you can get it here
half.com

or you can look here

Barnes and Noble

here is the books official website
cookwood.com/perl