[MacPerl] Hello

["John Phelps" <jphelps@austin.apple.com>]

Hello!

Matthias asked for answers to these from new subscribers, so here goes:

- How you learned about the existence of MacPerl
I was told it existed by a UNIX user who created a script that I wanted to
use, but since I'm a Macintosh guy, I didn't have UNIX.  I then used the
handy-dandy Internet search engines. :)

- Whether you received your copy by ftp or by CD
ftp from the MacPerl Q&A page

- Whether you are using the MPW tool or the application
the application - I can't stand MPW, CodeWarrior is my programming
application of choice

- what you are planning to use Perl for
To learn about it, and to run this script he gave me.  Which leads into...

This guy created a PERL script that is basically a supplement for a board
game.  It takes a short "setup" script of info that you want, and creates a
Postscript file of the desired setup (boards, overlays, etc).  I want to
use it, and will probably use it extensively - once I get it working. 
There's the rub!

It's too large for MacPerl to edit directly, so I'm using Tex-Edit Plus to
look at it.  At first, it didn't do anything.  Then I was reading Sandra
Silcot's MacPerl primer, and I saw that I had to make sure it was in
Macintosh text format, not Unix text format.  Now, I was getting somewhere,
after fixing that, it actually triggered to MacPerl and started to run.  

Of course, I immediately got an error.  Through some inspection and a
little trial-and-error, I got the script working, but only if I put it in
the directory with the data files for the mapboards.  In the script, I
found where it was pulling the directory, and I couldn't figure how to
change it to where it would work.  I put in the directory from the desktop
down, and I also tried just using the directory from the droplet's level
(ie, ":maps", with maps being the name of the folder).

Of course, when I went to print the .ps file, it didn't actually pick up
all the features, so there may be something else wrong too.  :(

My question is more "where do I need to look to figure this out" rather
than "tell me what's wrong".  My ulterior motive to doing all of this is an
excuse to start learning about Perl anyway.  From wandering through the Web
resources (nice pages, y'all!), it appears I will probably need to invest
in a book to really get going, maybe that's a potential Christmas gift
idea...

Thanks!

John

***********************************************************************
John Phelps  ****   mailto: pbguru@cris.com or jphelps@austin.apple.com
OIC, Gundi's Gang -- Anything expressed above is strictly my opinion --
Murphy's Law of Combat, #66:
            The enemy is never watching until you make a mistake.