beginner questions?

jonin has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

sorry all didnt know where to post this...

Hi guys,

Im interested in tinkering about with Perl, a friend of mine actually teaches Perl at a college and has used Perl for many years in the industry and swears by it...(sure he would, as anybody who has used a language for a long time would)

anyway, i have got more into Linux the last 6 months to a year or so and want to start learning a language that I can use in many different arenas.

I have decided to give Perl a go as i know it is a good scripting language used by sys admins as well as a language used for general application development...this really appeals to me.

I am also interested in making games...yes i know you are going to say there are better languages/engines suited for game development such as Unity, c#, even python has pyglet or pygame or something to develop games...i just cant think of a more fun way to learn a language than making games, though i do have ideas for a few apps too...anyway

i was reading that you can develop games with Perl using SDL, i think this is a c library pretty popular with game development.

As far as IDE goes, i was thinking about using VIM as my editor / environment to develop Perl apps etc in...is this crazy??? ...am i in for a lot of heart break and frustration? am i better off using a perl environment of some sort? ...i havent looked at any, just like the idea of VIM...again cause knowing VIM can be very useful in a wide range of things...

this post is just to get some expert opinions in and to see if my ideas arent one small step away from...totally crazy

thanks for reading, cant wait for input, want to get started asap!!!

Comment on beginner questions?

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: beginner questions? by taint (Chaplain) on May 30, 2014 at 00:49 UTC
Greetings, jonin. While answers to this are highly (relative \| bikeshed \| trollbait). IMHO I whould suggest that nearly any editor would be suitable for working with Perl, if it has support for it. OTOH, there are better ones, than others. In your case, I would say that VIM is just fine, if you are already familiar with it. If not, this might not be the ideal place to start learning Perl with. As VIM also has a fairly steep learning curve. Meaning; you will be taking on two learning projects, simultaneously. Just something you might want to consider. :) --Chris Ąλɐp ʇɑəɹ⅁ ɐ əʌɐɥ puɐ ʻꜱdləɥ ꜱᴉɥʇ ədoH	[reply]
Re: beginner questions (vim as perl ide, crazy)? by Anonymous Monk on May 30, 2014 at 00:09 UTC
no, vim as perl ide isn't crazy, many folks use it, even TheDamian (a perl book author) uses vim More Instantly Better Vim - Programming - O'Reilly Media , https://github.com/thoughtstream/Damian-Conway-s-Vim-Setup, Scripting the Vim editor, Part 1: Variables, values, and expressions	[reply]
Re: beginner questions? by wjw (Priest) on May 30, 2014 at 02:35 UTC
I am in a situation where it has been some years since I have done anything much in Perl, have never done OO Perl, and generally been using GUI IDE's for development in various other languages. What Chris mentions previously is very valid. Learning Perl is not any harder than any other language that I have been exposed to. On the other hand, it is not simple either. I am attempting learn OO Perl (a legacy web framework), vim, git, screen and become familiar with the working of DBIx::Class. It is tough! Be careful how much you attempt to learn at once. Focus on basic Perl using what tools/editors you are used to using, then explore other tools/editors. I use two when not backed into doing everything from the command line(vim): Sublime Text Editor, and Komodo. There are lots of others out there, but the editor is really secondary to learning Perl... Regarding games, there are some pretty sophisticated ones out there as I understand it. I used to work with guy who now owns several software companies, one of which does gaming in Perl. I think it is less far out there than many might think. All very anecdotal, but hope there is something here that you find encouraging or helpfule ...the majority is always wrong, and always the last to know about it... Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results... A solution is nothing more than a clearly stated problem...otherwise, the problem is not a problem, it is a facct wjw	[reply]
Re^2: beginner questions? by Mr. Muskrat (Canon) on May 30, 2014 at 19:50 UTC
I recommend learning tmux instead of screen. :)	[reply]
Re^3: beginner questions? by wjw (Priest) on May 31, 2014 at 23:06 UTC
I took a look at tmux. Nice! I now have both installed but like the client/server model of tmux. Will probably make the switch as soon as I am done working my current contract. For now, gotta go with what they have.. Thanks for pointing that out... ...the majority is always wrong, and always the last to know about it... Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results... A solution is nothing more than a clearly stated problem...otherwise, the problem is not a problem, it is a facct wjw	[reply]
Re: beginner questions? by SuicideJunkie (Vicar) on May 30, 2014 at 15:17 UTC
You may be interested in Coding for OpenGL "live" Perl games are certainly doable; check out this animation of a short sequence of THANCS turns. The game is pure perl with openGL graphics so it is nice and portable.	[reply]
Re: beginner questions? by RedElk (Hermit) on May 30, 2014 at 14:50 UTC
If your "ideas arent one small step away from...totally crazy" then whats the point of getting out of bed? Go for it, and have fun!	[reply]


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