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> Too much perl code is essentially write once and forget. Please stop repeating this misconception. People who put little effort into learning how to program
by Mithaldu 14y ago
> Too much perl code is essentially write once and forget.
Please stop repeating this misconception. People who put little effort into learning how to program write "write-once" code in any language. Perl had the "misfortune" of being the only dynamic language on the block for a long time, leading to many people reaching for it to get things done without bothering to actually learn the language, thus creating a vast corpus of low quality code.
(It does not help that the definitive resource of Perl for bioinformatics people, which i've seen in libraries like those of the Genome Campus in Cambridge, isn't worthy of being used as toilet paper, yet influenced a whole generation of scientists.)
> I've spent far too many hours trying to figure out what a perl script does
How often do you reach for perltidy when you do this?
- PySlice 14y agoI don't think that is a misconception. Perl is the language with the highest occurrence of "subtle" and "ambiguous" in its documentation and tutorials that I have ever seen. Humans may be subtle and ambiguous, but programming languages should be clear and precise.
- Mithaldu 14y agoIf you contrast the original statement i quoted as a misconception, you will find that your opinion still is not the same as the actual misconception.
- bsima 14y agoWhat is this "definitive resource" and what resource would you recommend for learning perl? I'm learning now (self-teaching) and don't want to learn the wrong way. Here's the book I've been using: http://bixsolutions.net/ http://bixsolutions.net/
- Mithaldu 14y agoI do not remember the exact title anymore. It was a book that taught how to build web applications by interleaving data retrieval and html printing, instead of building it up in proper MVC fashion, to name one example of the damage it did. As for learning Perl, the best resource is http://perl-tutorial.org http://perl-tutorial.org You will find an explanation there of how to judge a learning resource and a list of the most current texts that teach modern Perl.
- adrianhoward 14y agoThe two books I'd strongly recommend: * chromatic's "Modern Perl" - which has a free CC licenced version (although it would be nice for you to pay some money to support the good work of the author and publisher ;-) http://www.onyxneon.com/books/modern_perl/index.html http://www.onyxneon.com/books/modern_perl/index.html * Curtis Poe's "Beginning Perl" http://ofps.oreilly.com/titles/9781118013847/ http://ofps.oreilly.com/titles/9781118013847/ (Bias warning: Curtis is a mate - but it is a very good book on the topic. Honest ;-)
- bsima 14y agoThanks for these - much appreciated!