One of the best methods I've found is to "decode" existing Perl code to see what the programmer is trying to accomplish.
I was recently thumbing through "Perl and CGI For The World Wide Web" by Elizabeth Castro, and while a little too elementary for me, I found her teaching technique extremely easy to read through. And it got me thinking.
Since Perl was originally designed to manipulate text, how easy would it be to design a program that takes a Perl construct and returns an english explaination of what it is trying to accomplish or doing? Something like you type the following into a form:
@classes = split(/,/, $class);
and the program returns an explanation such as:
"@classes" is an array being built from splitting the scalar variable "$class" into individual items separated by the argument between the "//", or in this case a "'".
Has anyone seen anything like this? Or is it even practical? Seems like it would be a great resource for beginners like me when trying to learn.
I have used the MAN pages and perldocs, but it is easier for me to learn when seeing application in different instances.
Any thoughts?