[ale] Programming Question - Where to Start

[Byron A Jeff]

> 
> Why not use perl as a first language?  

Asked and answered. Perl isn't clean. It makes sense only if you understand
the underlaying infrastructure.

> 
> I assume all people who subscribe to this list are
> reasonably intelligent.  It takes a reasonably
> intelligent person to learn and understand Perl. 
> Learning python, java and sh to get to Perl is a waste
> of time.  

The original quote was "... I need to acquire some basic programming
skills." Perl was a guesstimate.

> 
> If you shy away from challenges, then this approach
> might be the way to go.  However, if you really want
> to learn, and learn in the shortest amount of time
> possible, dive right in.  You may be underwater for
> awhile, but you'll soon learn to swim.

But with no basis of understading the process of swimming you'll get by but
probably not be real efficient at it.

> 
> Perl is *not* that complicated. 
> And you learn a lot
> by learning it.  Python, sh and java are all
> worthwhile endeavors, but not necessary stepping
> stones to perl.

There was never any discussion of stepping stones to Perl. The original request
was for learning programming...

BAJ


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