Don't forget the pizza!
- Joel
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Harrop" <
don@nis4u.com>
To: <
plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us>
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2000 4:11 PM
Subject: Re: to code or not to code?
> Thanks for all the good posts! There's nothin' like asking about which
> language is best to stir up discussion on the list.. :-) Time to buy some
> books and some Mountain Dew!
>
> Don
>
> > On Jul 24, 12:39pm, Don Harrop wrote:
> >
> > > I was wondering if I could get some feedback on some scripting /
> programming
> > > languages to jump into for a newbie coder. Perl seems like a good
> choice
> > > because everybody has it and there's tons of support. You can either
> use it
> > > for web page development or linux admin stuff. I don't know if you
can
> > > compile it to a single exacutable under DOS/WIN stuff though. That
> would be
> > > cool. I've listened to a few people on the list talk about python and
> it
> > > sounds good but it doesn't seem to have the same amount of support as
> Perl
> > > does. C++ would be cool but I don't want to have to compile
everything
> > > before I can run it. It might be overkill for a newbie. :-) Links
on
> > > where to go to learn the code would be nice too...
> >
> > I too think Perl is a good choice. Some comments though...
> >
> > - I'm not sure why you place so much importance on support. For
> > newbies, both Perl and Python are rock solid; I'd be *very*
> > surprised if you encountered problems with either language that
> > required any support at all.
> >
> > - Compiling to an executable is overrated; don't worry about it.
> >
> > - There are a lot of Perl books that I can recommend. One that I
> > know almost nothing about, but which I think you should look at is
> > "Elements of Programming with Perl" by Andrew L. Johnson. This
> > book is supposedly written for folks whom Perl will be the first
> > programming language that they learn. If you pick it up and choose
> > to use it to learn Perl, let me know how it goes. See
> >
> > http://www.manning.com/Johnson/index.html
> >
> > for more information.
> >
> > - You may also wish to read "Choosing a Perl Book" at
> >
> > http://www.perl.com/pub/2000/06/27/perlbook.html
> >
> > - Most of the O'Reilly Perl books are worth owning. In particular,
> > I recommend "Programming Perl" and "Mastering Regular Expressions".
> > However, if you're a true programming neophyte, neither of these
> > books will be very accessible.
> >
> > - I also like "Effective Perl Programming" by Joseph Hall and Randal
> > Schwartz.
> >
> > - Books will only take you so far. The only way to really get good
> > at programming is to do it. The more time you spend at it, the
> > better you'll get. The cool thing about Perl is that you don't
> > have to know very much to get started. You can start experimenting
> > with the language almost as soon as you open a book. (People who
> > attempt to read an entire Perl book and then write some code are
> > definitely doing it wrong.)
> >
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> >
>
>
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