http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=63695


in reply to CGI Programming 101 - Perl for the WWW

I have to wonder whether you will retain your optimism for books that give admittedly bad advice after you have some more experience under your belt. There are good books that have been written with beginners in mind, danger wrote at least one that I have heard good things about. Why not read that and seriously think about what book you would want to see a person start with...

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Re: Re (tilly) 1: CGI Programming 101 - Perl for the WWW
by Hero Zzyzzx (Curate) on Mar 12, 2001 at 04:33 UTC

    I know what you're saying, tilly. I'm feeling the frustration of the shoddy coding I learned in this book now, however, it's hard for me to beat up on the book that really got me to want to buckle down and learn perl.

    Part of it's accessibility is that it wasn't overwhelming, like some techie books can be. Unfortunately, being "underwhelming" meant some very important things were left out.

    That's why I said "cautiously recommend," if a newbie goes into this book with the attitude "I can learn from this but shouldn't take it as the Word," they can get a lot out of it.

    Besides, should the "reviews" section be only for the very best? It makes sense to include even the bad or mediocre, to let monks know before the plunk cash down on a stinker.

      Reviews are both for good and bad books.

      However I am very cautious about recommending bad books because they are accessible. Instead I would ask what a good and also acceptable book is, and recommend that.

      It is like Matt's Script Archives. Yes, they did a lot to get a lot of people into Perl. They made a lot of people's lives easier. But they have resulted in a lot of cracked boxes, and a lot of people who have no idea how at risk they are.

      But I really believe that it is possible to work from the beginning doing things correctly without being so forbidding that beginners cannot learn. I believe that seeking to find that approach is better than just accepting that beginners are doomed to accepting whatever crud the publishers are pushing because they wanted to crank out Yet Another book in a popular topic...