[pm-h] Introductory Perl Help

[G. Wade Johnson]

On Tue, 22 Oct 2013 22:24:18 -0500
Abraham Báez <abaezjob at gmail.com> wrote:

> Responses provided inline.
> 
> On Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 10:04 PM, G. Wade Johnson
> <gwadej at anomaly.org>wrote:
> 
> > One of the goals listed on our "About Houston.pm"
> > (http://houston.pm.org/about.html) page is "Provide help and
> > mentoring to local Perl programmers."
> >
[snip]
> >

Hi Abraham,
 
> I appreciate your willingness to help.  Just developing the questions
> is an effort.  In my view, Perl is very powerful, very, very cryptic,
> extremely exacting.  Sorry, I don't agree Perl is easy. In other

I really appreciate your input on this (especially because it's easy to
fall into the "echo chamber" of all of us that do Perl regularly).

I would like to give a little different take on this though.

> words, this is not like learning to drive a car...Perl is a state of
> the art fighter jet... you better pay attention when you climb in the

One of the things I'm trying to correct with this
class/hangout/whatever is an impression I never thought I would have to
deal with for Perl. In our meetings, we focus on the big, powerful
applications of Perl. We tend to ignore the little, useful scripts.

Most of the programming world tends to suggest that Perl isn't good for
anything but quick one-off scripts. In actuality, Perl is quite capable
from the level of one-off scripts to massive applications.

> cockpit because it ain't for amateurs.  Indeed, it is very tough to
> master.

One difference between Perl and many of the other languages that I've
used is that you can do useful work without "mastering" Perl. I feel
that we, as a group, have been falling down at helping more junior
Perl users to see this.

> And like a fighter jet you have to fly it every day or close
> to every day.  Tough to do for those who don't make a living
> programming in Perl.  Sorry, this would be a superb, frankly

For most of my career (and most of the time I've "programmed Perl" I
have not "made my living programming Perl". I have normally used Perl
as necessary to solve problems that were too hard in the language I was
being paid to program in.

What got me using Perl was the way I could whip up a quick-and-dirty
script to remove an annoyance. Later, as I solved more problems with
Perl, I began to move toward mastering the language.

> invaluable, tool for me; but not a way to make a living...don't have
> the talent nor the inclination to program.  Thanks for your
> willingness to share your talent and experience.

I've often compared programming to writing. It takes a special kind of
talent to write a novel, or a large piece of technical documentation.
Not everyone can do that. Most people could write a paragraph on a
topic, if they needed to. Almost anyone can write a "to do list".

Likewise, not everyone is capable of (or interested in) writing a large
application in any language. A lot of useful work can be done by simple
scripts that consist of a few lines of Perl.

My goal with this is (at a minimum) to help people who need a few lines
of Perl or a small script. If they develop a desire to write novels
later, that's just a happy accident.<grin/>

Sorry for the long rant. This is an area I've been trying to teach for
well over a decade and it's relatively easy to get me started.

As I said before, the input you've provided is quite valuable. Not the
least because it shows how we've let people down on the little, helpful
stuff.

G. Wade
-- 
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in
practice, there is.                   -- Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut