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in reply to Improving your skills by reading module sources

Before you decide on what module to pick, picking a learning target is way more important. Where do you want to improve?

Note that some good modules (like DBI) will prefer performance and efficiency over clarity and maintainability. Also note that module age might show its traces. Patches most often do not make the code clearer or more understandable: they more fix bugs. Also if a module changed maintainership, code might get harder to read as different styles mix (unless the new maintainer alter the style of all the module parts). Having modules with many authors might even get more confusing.

update: many of above mentioned modules cover more than one area, as noted below, like XS + Parsing or OO + Documentation. Main thing still is to pick the module that stands out in the area you want to improve on.


Enjoy, Have FUN! H.Merijn
  • Comment on Re: Improving your skills by reading module sources

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Re^2: Improving your skills by reading module sources
by armstd (Friar) on Aug 03, 2011 at 12:45 UTC

    I pick DBI for improving interface documentation!

    I've worked with a lot of structured programmers, and as much as they dislike working with my OO code, they never seem to have a problem using DBI. Part of that is probably inertia...everyone uses it, that's just what you do. But I also think DBI's documentation has a lot to do with it.

    Learn to write code people don't have to read to use. As for modules to read the source to learn from, sorry, not much in the way of ideas there.

    --Dave

[reply]
      I've worked with a lot of structured programmers, and as much as they dislike working with my OO code, they never seem to have a problem using DBI.

      On the other hand I see plenty of DBI-related questions on perlmonks and other perl-related discussion media. Lots of people seem to have problems with DBI (as with any other frequently used module)

      Though to be fair, many of the posters apparently haven't read the documentation, or don't understand English well enough to grok the documentation.

      Perl 6 - second systems done right
[reply]
Re^2: Improving your skills by reading module sources
by ForgotPasswordAgain (Priest) on Aug 03, 2011 at 22:37 UTC
    I agree with Tux that the modules you pick depend on what you're trying to learn. We will also have different categorizations of the modules. For example, Tux chose Wx as an example of GUI programming, but to me that is a good example of XS programming with C++ ! It's a good idea, to think of what different modules can teach you.
[reply]
Re^2: Improving your skills by reading module sources
by perl.j (Pilgrim) on Aug 03, 2011 at 15:33 UTC
    Great way to learn specialized Perl.
    perl.j-----A Newbie To Perl
[reply]

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