Re: seeking direction to start with perl

[desemondo]

Perl Best Practices is a pretty good place to start - although it does have a little assumed knowledge...

Ultimately though, I'd just pick one of the books (eg the Camel book) and dive in and start writing Perl.

I found learning Perl in a "Read, Write, Read, Write" style quite good in that I tried to apply what I'd just read to the code I wrote. Also reading a book cover to cover, then going back through it a 2nd time - helped fill in a few gaps on some areas I didn't get the first time through

Hope this helps.

Update:
In my opinion, Perl is simply another tool in the toolbox, which may or may not replace your Shell scripts - depending on what you're trying to do. In the 'sysadmin' role, choosing the right tool for the job is just as important as knowing the tools themselves... Building code that is robust, efficient and maintainable is a delicate balance when solving a non-trivial task.

[eyepopslikeamosquito]

In my opinion, Perl is simply another tool in the toolbox, which may or may not replace your Shell scripts

I advocate writing all non-trivial new scripts in Perl, not shell. As for why, see Unix shell versus Perl.

Re learning Perl in general, a good place to start is learn.perl.org.

[desemondo]

I advocate writing all non-trivial new scripts in Perl, not shell.
Absolutely, I totally agree.

The point I was trying to make was that shell scripts are ideal for simple stuff. And that it doesn't usually make sense to use Perl for those tasks... Unless those scripts are beyond two or three lines, or the shell doesn't provide enough power or control.

In otherwords, if the shell already provides what you need, there isn't much (or any) benefit in rolling your own, whether it be in Perl, VB, php, or any other scripting language...