Re: If I could only own one Perl book, it would be:

http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=551267

in reply to If I could only own one Perl book, it would be:

I voted for the Perl Cookbook, but only because Programming Perl is largely available as man pages.

Comment on Re: If I could only own one Perl book, it would be:

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Re^2: If I could only own one Perl book, it would be: by sarani (Sexton) on May 24, 2006 at 05:05 UTC
IT's vastly useful when you're forced to program on paper - Programming Perl, that is. :D No computer = no man pages. And yes, people still write entire programs on paper, and pray that they haven't forgotten a semicolon somewhere. To what end? Beats me. You have to type it in anyway...	[reply]
Re^3: If I could only own one Perl book, it would be: by BerntB (Deacon) on May 24, 2006 at 12:53 UTC
Works that way for me, I think better with a paper and pen. I don't write out programs on paper, but I usually start by sketching out classes and methods on paper. The end result is faster than going directly to keyboard (for non-trivial problems). I voted for Programming Perl, because it is complete. My favorite Perl book is the first Advanced Perl, since I did Perl 4 before reading it (so others could read). I realized what I had been missing out of. I love it dearly. (Update: Saw a few comments further down that Bart agrees with me.)	[reply]
Re^4: If I could only own one Perl book, it would be: by sarani (Sexton) on May 24, 2006 at 14:36 UTC
Ah, but you never had to submit assignments of code on paper did you? (I do, though not in Perl, not yet. No lecturer knows perl. All of us students are entirely man-page-taught or The-Camel-taught.) It just makes no sense to submit stuff that way, considering that if it were a complete program on a computer, you just compile and run and you find out if the thing works... I totally understand about sketching out the idea on paper, I do that too - and my intention was not to cast stones (rocks? pebbles? what is the correct usage?) on that practice. Just a bit of college student spleen being vented, hopefully offending no one. :)	[reply]
Re^5: If I could only own one Perl book, it would be: by gellyfish (Monsignor) on May 24, 2006 at 14:42 UTC
Re^6: If I could only own one Perl book, it would be: by sarani (Sexton) on May 25, 2006 at 03:38 UTC
Re^5: If I could only own one Perl book, it would be: by Anonymous Monk on May 24, 2006 at 15:11 UTC
Re^6: If I could only own one Perl book, it would be: by sarani (Sexton) on May 25, 2006 at 03:42 UTC
Re^3: If I could only own one Perl book, it would be: by spiritway (Vicar) on May 25, 2006 at 05:17 UTC
And yes, people still write entire programs on paper, and pray that they haven't forgotten a semicolon somewhere. To what end? Beats me. You have to type it in anyway... Some of that may be age-related. I was raised on pencil and paper, and still find that I think better when I can sketch things out on paper. Similarly, I find it almost impossible to read or proofread using the screen. I need to have a book or print something out onto paper. That's one reason I needed to get Programming Perl, even though much of that is contained in the perldocs or man pages. It's not just the content, it's also the presentation. For well over half my life, computers weren't even an option. Typing in something you've written out by hand isn't always a waste of effort. By re-typing, you are forced to deal with your code on the level of characters or small units, which often helps you find errors you've made (usually typos, not logic errors).	[reply]

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