In addition to the references and comments provided by others above, I would recommend your looking for a Perl Mongers group in your local area - The Australian and New Zealand Perl Monger groups are listed at http://www.pm.org/groups/oceania.html. These perl-user and advocacy groups can provide an invaluable resource for your learning of Perl with fairly regular meetings, presentations and social get-togethers. Furthermore, these groups can help you obtain a more frontline view of the use of Perl in the industry and how to best develop your Perl knowledge.

While I cannot vouch for the Brisbane or Perth groups, the Melbourne and Sydney Perl Monger groups are quite active. The Canberra group is fairly new but is starting to gain momentum.

perl -le 'print+unpack("N",pack("B32","00000000000000000000000111111111"))'