>>>>> On Thu, 28 Jun 2001 12:22:12 -0500, Jay Latham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
Jay> I've decided that it's time I learned a little about programming Jay> and I've decided that, for various reasons, Perl would be a good Jay> place to start. But I'm confused on which book would be best for Jay> a total newbie. I've been leaning towards the oreilly books Jay> Learning Perl 3rd edition, and/or Programming Perl but thought Jay> I'd ask for opinons before making the purchase. Any suggestions? If you've never done any programming what-so-ever, _Learning Perl_, aka the Llama book, is not your best choice. Wait, put down the pitchforks and listen! The Llama (or at least the 2nd edition; I haven't seen the 3rd yet) assumes quite a bit of shell and C coding experience, as well as a fairly broad Unix grounding. I've lead a class or two of newbies through it in a class/discussion style setting, and many of them were turned off. I'm starting up another study group of newbies, and this time I've decided to use a book called _Elements of Programming with Perl_. In contrast to the Llama, which teaches Perl to programmers, this book purports to teach programming to people, using Perl as the vehicle. It's worth at least a look. After you get through whatever introductory stuff and you're comfortable with the language, then you should pick up a copy of _Programming Perl_ (aka the Camel) and a copy of _The Perl Cookbook_ (aka the Ram). You won't need those right away, but eventually you'll come to like having them around. Good luck, john.
