http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=656686


in reply to Perl best practices fanatism

I personally find PBP and Perl::Critic invaluable as a learning tool. Now I don't follow each and every recommendation to the letter, it has helped me learn better programming practices, as I still have a long way to go before I'll be able to consider myself any kind of programmer. I tend to use q() and qq() alot in my code and perlcritic --brutal always seems to complain about it but I find it quicker than using \" or \' to me that makes my code harder to read and I'll tend to forget one somewhere and even with the syntax highlighting takes me sometimes forever to find it. There are a few other things I have found not applicable to the situation, such as it's insistence on using version control systems etc. I do my own work, it's 95% Web work, and i don't see the need to set up a subversion server just to keep track of a couple of scripts and a module or two. On the other hand though, I would say about 85% of the things I've learned from PBP have helped me as a beginner programmer immensely and would recommend it to anyone looking to learn Perl.

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Re^2: Perl best practices fanatism (also commenting on version control)
by Fletch (Bishop) on Dec 13, 2007 at 03:43 UTC

    There's no need to set up a server to use SVN. It will run perfectly well against a local repository on the same machine, or over ssh (again without a dedicated server) to a remote machine. And there's other options besides (or on top of :) SVN that don't require dedicated servers either.

    Additionally: Not that you're not free to work without a net if you really want to, just don't be surprised when you go splat. And you will eventually go splat (Murphy and what not . . .). And the more cautious who do use SCM religiously will snicker when you're hoist on your own petard.

    The cake is a lie.
    The cake is a lie.
    The cake is a lie.

Re^2: Perl best practices fanatism (version control)
by toolic (Bishop) on Dec 13, 2007 at 03:10 UTC
    not applicable to the situation, such as it's insistence on using version control
    It is interesting indeed to read others opinions. I started using a basic unix version control system (SCCS) more than 10 years ago, and have used RCS and CVS as well, every day of my life since. I find it to be such a crucial code development tool since it removes all fear from the process:
  • the fear of going down the wrong path,
  • the fear of commitment,
  • the fear of releasing bad code which is used by others
  • If I make a grave mistake, or even if I just hate what I churned out, retrieving the latest stable version takes mere seconds.

    In a way, I was a little surprised version control was even mentioned in the book, if only because I took it for granted that everyone used it as a matter of course. I learn something new everyday.