Re: Existential Crisis (Or: On Becoming a Better Monk)

[Steve_p]

Sometimes, just getting away from your preferred language for a while helps you see things in a new light. For example, about a year and a half ago, I was frustrated with Perl and worked with Python for quite a while. There were several things that I found easier to do with Python than what I was now doing with Perl. But, after dealing with lack of support at work for Python, I went back to Perl and started using more advanced Perl, such as references, objects, anonymous sub's, etc.

Actually, being an IS guy, I feel your pain regarding theoretical CS. I have struggled with it for quite a while as well. I would highly suggest "How to Design Programs" and "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" as a good start for getting a better grip of the theoretical side of CS.

[spurperl]

These are excellent suggestions, as he obviously needs to gain a deeper understanding in general CS issues.

SICP - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Program is a terrific book, and you can find the free online version of the second edition here !

It is written to be very interesting and to cover a lot of areas of CS. Its exercises are great, a pleasure to prepare. The book teaches in Scheme, but it is an easy language to grasp. Besides, a couple of days ago there was a discussion to try and rewrite all examples & exercises of SICP in Perl (using its functional programming constructs - anonymous subs, eval, map and such) - maybe you want to be the one to do it - I'm sure you'll get support for this in the Perlmonks community. It will be a rewarding & teaching experience, and you will surely become a better programmer.

I'm speaking from personal experience - I'm sure I became a much better programmer after working through SICP in a course (we did everything in Scheme - but it doesn't _really_ matter). Cheers