From: Eivind Eklund <eeklund@...>
Date: 2008-02-01T17:19:23+09:00
Subject: Re: Learn how to program

On Feb 1, 2008 7:09 AM, Chad Perrin <perrin@apotheon.com> wrote:
> Is this another example of the common (mis)conception that Perl is a
> "write-only" language?  It's not, and in fact it's an excellent language
> for learning to program.  It just may not be the best for learning OOP,
> in particular.

Too arcane syntax, too many special cases, bad handling of error
conditions, no built in parameter passing, etc.

It isn't that's impossible to read Perl - I find Perl reasonably easy
to read - but there's a lot of gotchas in it, and I wouldn't want them
on a beginner.  There are, to my mind, only four things that might
have redemptive value in using Perl as beginner's language:
- Sigils might be useful to make the beginner remember the differences
between types
- The "softness" of string/number typing in perl (they're
automatically converted to each other depending on context) might be
easier for a beginner to start with ("It's a number already, why do I
have to call .to_i ?)
- The language is well enough known that it might be easier to find a
friend that use it to help out than in more unusual languages
- The language is full enough of traps that the new programmer may
learn "BE ALERT!  TRUST NO ONE!  THE LANGUAGE IS YOUR ENEMY AND MUST
BE BEATEN INTO SUBMISSION!"

Of course, I happen to like code, and I think you can end up being
fairly friendly with Perl after a short while - say, ten years of Perl
experience - so it's not a total loss...

If you've got other redeeming features of Perl for beginners, I'm
eager to hear them - if somebody can convince me I'm wrong, I've
learned something, so I'm always in favour :)

Eivind.