On 25 Mar 2009, at 18:23, David Ihnen wrote:
They've also told me that they know that perl is harder to learn
than PHP.
What can I tell them? That it is not true?
Yes, but you may or may not be right. We all agree that coming into
perl is confusing - too much old data about how to do things is out
there in the world. That makes it harder to learn - not because the
language is harder to learn - but because its not clear what the
proper way to learn it is.
And what is the proper way? I've futzed about in a number or languages
- including perl - but only at a very basic level with perl. I've got
some web stuff to do and thought that having a go with perl may be a
pleasant diversion. At the moment it looks like I'll be using Catalyst
and Mason to help with the job - but what are the pratfalls to avoid -
or the good practice to follow (use strict and warnings :-)
As an outsider, perl is its own worst enemy. Its proud boast is that
there's more than one way of doing things (so show me a language where
that's not true) while not really showing a good way. I accept that a
chunk of this is style / taste / choice but a few pointers along the
lines of "that way the road is quite straight and smooth" would help
quite a lot.
I guess I'm asking for a magic formula which doesn't exist and that I
should just bloody well get on and do it but I'll ask anyway.
TIA
Simon
