Is Perl an appropriate beginner programming language?

[zerugaze]

A friend of mine left a book about the Perl programming language at my house. I have no programming experience but I use linux and I would love to learn a language. Is Perl a good language to introduce me to computer programming and its concepts?
Or should I go out and get a book on a different language?

 

[user-7256]

Perl is good. But I would wager an "I told ya so" that the next person to post will suggest Java, C++, or PHP.

If you have a free Perl book for a while then go ahead and take a crack at it. As long as you learn it correctly, it won't hurt, that's for sure. Each language has pros, cons, and specific ("prime") uses. You'll figure this out over time and what they are specifically.

So why not. You have a Perl book. Might as well read it!

 

[yilduz]

Nah, I think you should try Java, C++, or PHP instead.

>_>

<_<

I imagine it depends on what you want to do with a programming language. If you want to build games and stuff, Perl really isn't the language to learn; but if you want to build advanced webpage applications, go for it.

It never hurts to know more languages.

 

[reodoggy]

I tried to learn Perl years ago but found it difficult to progress beyond a very basic level. I eventually switched to 'Python' and found it a little easier. I don't regret the time I spent learning Perl, as even with only a basic level of understanding, I was able to learn how to download scripts (mostly from CPAN) and modify them for my own use.

 

[Barrucadu]

Perl is a good language, but I think Python is probably better for a beginner.

 

[plaggypig]

I would recommend Ruby or Python.

 

[hyped]

Perl is definitely a great language and has a very large and intelligent community surrounding it, but it really depends on how comfortable you are with computers and logic in general.

If you're coming from an engineering background or math, you might love it. If you're completely new to programming and have no engineering or math background, I would have to agree with the people above me in suggesting ruby or python.

I would also take the time to research a couple languages before deciding. It really depends on what type of programming you're interested in. I'd take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_list_of_programming_languages and the links in the "see also" section at the bottom for categorical listings of languages and descriptions of what they're used for etc...

Good luck, and please let us know if you have any other questions.

 

[bbrez1]

I suggest you start with C/C++

 

[qbert220]

My main concern over learning Perl would be that Perl tends to have multiple ways of doing the same thing. This is bad for a beginner since it is hard enough learning just one way of doing something. It is not (IMO) a language that encourages structure or good programming practices. The best point on Perl's side is that you've got a Perl book already!

If you didn't already have the book, my advice would be PHP (if you want to write for web sites), or Java (if you don't). Java is a great language for application programming and reasonably easy to learn the basics.

 

[RJ]

Perl is a great language to learn programming techniques and structure, but it's more difficult and less useful than PHP is. I was a "Perl Monger" for several years myself who switched to PHP almost immediately after discovering it. PHP just works better for website development.

 

[rikii]

I'd say the opposite, I find perl a lot more useful. As for whether it's worth learning perl, depends of what your planning to write, pointless learning perl imo if you only want to write GUI apps.

 

[CrackFeed.Com]

Perl is great, but I hate the server load it generates.

Perl is a great language to learn programming techniques and structure, but it's more difficult and less useful than PHP is. I was a "Perl Monger" for several years myself who switched to PHP almost immediately after discovering it. PHP just works better for website development.

I wouldn't say it is less useful really, there are a lot of things that perl can do with the server that PHP cannot do. But, I am still a PHP nut. buildacommunity.com has some great examples, but their stuff is too expensive and perl is just too heavy.

 

[johmi]

Perl isn't a bad language, but even though I have programmed many years, I find Perl quite confusing, so I would not recommend this for your first learning, as it might scare you away. I would suggest C or PHP, as I think they are much easier to get into.

 

[user-7256]

Perl is great, but I hate the server load it generates.

Have you ever tried monitoring the server load on a Windows 2008 .NET server?

 

[CrazyTech]

The cool thing about programming is that once you create a foundation, you can use it to expand out and understand other languages. It's not like say an actual spoken language where one may be completely different from the other. That's not to say that there aren't differences, but programming is all about the underlying concepts -- understand those and you'll be able to learn just about anything. This is why its common for many programmers to be fluent in multiple programming languages.

As far as starting out with Perl...I'm a little reluctant to suggest it. I'm working on teaching myself programming, so I spent time researching avenues. There is some very good advice in this thread. You really should first figure out what it is you want to program - IE: are you looking for desktop apps or web apps? In the case of Perl, you're really going to be running web apps. So answer that question first. As others have said, the free book is nice, but Perl is complex and not exactly the best language to start out with.

Personally speaking, I would suggest the usual C/C++, Java, PHP, Python, Ruby route. Another potential candidate is VB.NET, which I'm currently learning. And last but not least, you have the other option of going with something even more basic. The Dummies series makes a good Beginning Programming book. It's pretty cheap and it uses very basic languages (non pun intended -- including Basic) that teach fundamentals. That really breaks it down to what I was talking about earlier with the foundation.

I hope all of that helps you out a bit, let me know if I can be of help.

 

[user-7256]

The cool thing about programming is that once you create a foundation, you can use it to expand out and understand other languages. It's not like say an actual spoken language where one may be completely different from the other. That's not to say that there aren't differences, but programming is all about the underlying concepts -- understand those and you'll be able to learn just about anything. This is why its common for many programmers to be fluent in multiple programming languages.

As far as starting out with Perl...I'm a little reluctant to suggest it. I'm working on teaching myself programming, so I spent time researching avenues. There is some very good advice in this thread. You really should first figure out what it is you want to program - IE: are you looking for desktop apps or web apps? In the case of Perl, you're really going to be running web apps. So answer that question first. As others have said, the free book is nice, but Perl is complex and not exactly the best language to start out with.

Personally speaking, I would suggest the usual C/C++, Java, PHP, Python, Ruby route. Another potential candidate is VB.NET, which I'm currently learning. And last but not least, you have the other option of going with something even more basic. The Dummies series makes a good Beginning Programming book. It's pretty cheap and it uses very basic languages (non pun intended -- including Basic) that teach fundamentals. That really breaks it down to what I was talking about earlier with the foundation.

I hope all of that helps you out a bit, let me know if I can be of help.

Don't learn VB.NET .... Sorry but in my experience, that language lacks a lot of useful features and structure from some of the other languages. In fact, I wrote an updated version of a product at work that had to be translated into 14 computer languages. VB.NET was one of them, and ugh. The entire VB6/VBA/VB.NET set of translations was pretty weak in my opinion. It's a frustrating set of languages to use effectively.

Others I would avoid as I did this project include: ColdFusion and ASP.

 

[monaco]

I'd recommend learning Java. It's an easy language that is cross platform and has an easy UI api.