Re^2: Recommendations for a self-taught Perl programmer

[Corion]

I second the recommendation of Higher Order Perl. If you don't want to learn a different programming language (which you really should, and it should be different in the way how make is different from Perl, or SQL is different from Perl, Higher Order Perl explores concepts from Lisp and how they apply to Perl. This will give you a different perspective on map and grep, for example. Learning a really different language is even better if the language is different enough, because there are important concepts that haven't found a place within Perl, like the concepts of Prolog (or make).

Knowing different programming languages is important in your ability to choose the right tool for the right job. If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

[geekondemand]

I concur that Higher Order Perl is a great resource and that learning to program in a suitably different language like Haskell can also be very useful.

I've found a nice little book that works through lots of Computer Science/Discrete Math stuff while introducing Haskell. It's The Haskell Road to Logic, Maths and Programming by Doets and van Eijk. A very nice little intro to functional programming and haskell, and a very nice companion to HOP, IMHO. Sort of kills two birds with one stone (intro to discrete math, functional programming, and another programming language)... wait that's three birds... oh well!