So much more

[jjhorner]

Almost every time someone posts code, I see methods I've never used and areas of Perl I have never explored.

There are almost always things that keep me from being able to answer questions. Either the idea of interpolation throws me, or I'm not familiar with regular expressions enough, or I'm not familiar with the modules or concepts involved.

For each question I encounter here, I walk away with 5 questions of my own that I have to answer.

How many scripts will I write, how many years will I code before other people will stop baffling me with things that look so basic?

JJ

[BBQ]

I hear you, brother JJ.

I've been coding for over two years now, and ever since I found perlmonks, it seems that I learned only what I needed to get the job done and never really explored all the possiblities. Take map for instance, I still haven't figured out why it would be better to do stuff with that little bugger! Or merlyn's post on his favorite loop method (but then again, he IS Randal Schwartz). Or btrott and chromatic, that always seem like they've seen your problem/question hundreds of times before. Oh, so basic.

My answer to your question is: I have no idea, but that's not stoping me from trying to improove

#!/home/bbq/bin/perl
# Trust no1!

[jjhorner]

I know. He IS Randal L. Schwartz!

What do you think, merlyn? Did you ever think you would be turned into a hero like this?

JJ

[merlyn]

jjhorner said:

What do you think, merlyn? Did you ever think you would be turned into a hero like this?

Well, no.

I hack Perl because it gets the job done. I have had a lot of jobs to do, so I got good at hacking Perl. Then again, I had hacked a lot of other languages before Perl, so I got good at the process of programming. (After all, I've been paid to program for over 22 years, and have been programming for another 8 years before that.)

As for being a hero, that's not my goal. My goal is to help others help themselves, since I've been helped so much along my way as well. I enjoy doing that. I also enjoy paying my bills on time ("no matter what the source or size", he says), so I try to find ways to help people that also give me back a few bucks here and there. And most of the time, what I do, does, and for that I'm grateful. But getting paid isn't the only goal... it's just not a contradictory goal (as some "starving artists" tend to see it).

I like that people like what I do. I also like that people like me. I hope that people can tell that one only somewhat correlates with the other; again, unlike some others I could quickly name, but won't. I also like liking people, or I wouldn't be in the people-helping business.

OK, enough philosophy for now. But you asked.

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker

[chromatic]

I've really only been using Perl for about a year now, give or take a couple of months. Lurking on comp.lang.perl.misc for a few months is a pretty good education in and of itself. For the first little while, you'll be completely lost. Then you'll understand a few basic posts. Eventually, you'll come to know lots of little tricks and tips and then, one day, you'll grok things and understand the Perl way.

Once you finally get it, as to what Perl is for and how you do things with Perl, there's no problem you can't solve.

Also, reading a dozen good books about it helps, as does attacking little problems you've never seen before (sorry to burst your bubble) but think you can solve.

[mdillon]

if you haven't already, read Effective Perl Programming by Joseph Hall (and Randal Schwartz to a greater or lesser extent depending on who you ask :>). i read it as one of my earliest Perl books after coming from a background in other languages (...), and found it to be an invaluable resource.

it will allow you to jump ahead of the game, be in two places at once, read minds, etc., etc., and all the other wonderful things that the world of Perl makes possible.

understanding the details and implications of the examples given in that book will make obvious and clearly coherent many of the Perl idioms that would otherwise come to be understood only with extensive amounts of time, trial, and error (especially the latter for some of us).

[t0mas]

I think that the road is the goal.
While I'm learning I walk a bit further down the road, but I don't think that I'll ever stop being baffled by how much longer others have walked.

/brother t0mas

[ivory]

I have the same problem a lot of the time...but how fun would it be to know everything? The thing I like best about programming is that there is always more to learn :) --ivory