Re^3: How does one learn perl programming efficiently - if they do not come from computer science background?

[stevieb]

As someone who dropped out of high school (did go back and graduate though) and never went to college or university, and who now deciphers large corporation and government business processes and converts them into code logic (in Python), I'd say if you like Perl, go with Perl.

Python is a decent language, but to be honest, it feels more 'childish' in many ways. Sure, you can get a coding job in Python anywhere, with the 5 million other out-of-school kids. You can do the same with any hot language. Perl, however, while it is in decline, is becoming very lucrative (because of corporations wanting to keep their legacy codebase running).

Again... learn what you feel good with. Perl is a very good start, as if you know Perl, you can transition reasonably well into other languages (I want to say C/C++, Java and, well, Python). I think I find jQuery/Javascript to be easier to grasp as well with my Perl experience.

Do what feels right. Python is easy to grasp with enough Perl experience (you'll need to understand Object Oriented Programming), but looking back, I don't think it could be the other way around as easily.

I also find the Perl community to be much kinder to one another. Sure, there are fights and bitching, but it's handled appropriately for the most part, as many Perl hackers have been around for a very long time.

There's also the CPAN. I don't believe there's another language that exists that has such a cohesive, consolidated grouping of all the published modules in a single, easy to access location.