[JaxPM] perl documentation

[j proctor]

On the jacksonville-pm-list; Jax.PM'er j proctor <jproctor at oit.umass.edu> wrote -


Following Nate and Bill...

>> What is the take of the more seasoned perl-mongers on the list? Would you
>> say that a novice should just buy Learning Perl and rely on the online
>> docs from there, and save some bread? There is the obvious advantage of
>> being able to read a book on the bus or train or in bed, but aside from
>> that, are the online docs just as good?
>
> The on-line docs are better, mainly from the stand-point that
> they are 'evolving' and the printed versions (books) are static.
> 
> IMHO:  Once it's printed - it's out-of-date...

Curious.  I'd go the other way.  The online docs are just the core of
what's needed to document Perl, whereas the books allow for more thorough
discussion of the issues, the reasons behind things, and the behaviour to
expect in special cases.  If you just need a quick reference ("what's the
syntax for specifying formats?"), it's a matter of taste--would you rather
have an additional window open or a book on your desk/lap/whatever?

Of course, that prompts me to cite some example of how the Camel
supersedes perldoc, and I can't.  Regexen maybe.  I learned (horror of
horrors!) without the Camel and the Llama, so I'm not as intimately
familiar as I perhaps ought to be.  I can say, for O'Reilly anyway, that
even if the Camel is wholly included in the online docs, the Panther and
the Owl and the Eagle and the Pelican and the others are not.

The Camel has a better index, too.


>> Bill, I hope this isn't off topic.

It's about Perl, isn't it?  If anyone on this list thinks Nate is off
topic, then I'll personally guarantee you don't have to sit by him at the
next JaxPM meeting. :)


j

P.S.  Yes, I do remember that Nate's in California, and that this group is
in no imminent danger of having a meeting anyway. 


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