Hi mouood, As a fellow newbie who started his programming career with html, I'd say that in terms of my first baby steps in perl, the tutorial offered on this site was the most useful resource of all. The explanations are sometimes a bit short, but for a guy like me who learns new languages best by looking at code and poking at it, the exercises and answers were really valuable for getting a basic hold on perl. Are you implying that you need to be smart to use Unix? HAHAHA, I am tshabet, the living proof that you are wrong. Take a swing at it, it's easier than you might think. As for books, the above mentioned sound like good suggestions to me. Good luck!