[YG Conlang Archives] > [romconlang group] > messages [Date Index] [Thread Index] >
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 19:32:13 +0000, rodlox <rodlox@hidden.email> wrote:
--- In romconlang@yahoogroups.com, Benct Philip Jonsson <melroch@m...> wrote:You need only know one comp language (Perl)the only Pearl I know is on MST3K...any suggestions? (aside from the Monty Python line of "RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!" ?).
Actually, "RUN AWAY!" is fairly good advice for a non-programmer in most cases, however Perl is relatively easy to get the hang of. If you've got a mind that can break problems down into small discrete steps, then Perl can pretty much turn those steps (in whatever form) into a working program -- this is unlike many other languages where you have to learn to think in that language in order to do any substantive work (perhaps Sapir and Whorf actually were speaking about computer languages? ;-). Indeed, there is a mantra among Perl coders: "There's more than one way to do it".
You can get Perl from http://www.perl.org/ or for Windows users, there's a slightly more user-friendly package at http://www.activestate.com/
Either way, it's the work of a few minutes to get it running, and churn out your first "Hello World!" program, using the included documentation (which is voluminous to say the least). Beyond that, there is a surfeit of good Perl tutorial websites out there that Google will help you find.
The ideal book to learn from, IMO, is _Programming Perl_ by Larry Wall (original creator of Perl), which you can get from http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0596000278 It's the definitive work on the subject, and is highly approachable.
Paul