Re: [MacPerl] "...we're absolute beginners..."

["Paul J. Schinder" <schinder@pobox.com>]

On Sat, 6 Jun 1998 00:06:33 -0600, NT  wrote:
>
>I'm a complete Perl newbie as well. I've been lurking on this list for a 
>couple of months and don't understand most of what I'm reading either, 
>but I'm hopeful that will come to make sense soon. I hope the wise Perl 
>elders of the list are helpful to us newbies and won't run off and create 
>their own list of "experts" and leave us newbies in the lurch. I'm 
>certainly looking forward to this learning experience and the day when 
>some of the example scripts posted to the list make a bit more sense.
>

How newbies are treated, on this list or any other, almost always depends
on how they act. You're off to a good start by reading The Book. You
should also learn how to use Shuck. You should be aware that MacPerl comes
with an extensive library of Perl routines, in the lib folder, and that
many of the files there have their own built in documentation that you can
read with Shuck. You can learn a lot about Perl by reading the routines in
the lib folder. You should also get into the habit of using the lib
routines in your own scripts rather than trying to reinvent the wheel each
time. It's much easier to read Shakespeare than to write it. You should
learn what CPAN is and how to use it. The CD that comes with The Book has
a CPAN snapshot, but of course it's already out of date.

"Experts" are much more likely to help you if you've tried to help
yourself first. Don't tell us "I've looked everywhere" when you haven't.
One of the first things I do is go to yahoo and do a search on the topic
in question. If I easily turn up relevant information, I discard the
message. Don't tell us "my script doesn't work" without providing a
script. The original script if you must, but a small example that exhibits
the problem will be read by more people. Don't tell us "I get an error
message" without telling us what the error message is. Don't ask a
question at all before first looking in the Perl FAQ and the list
archives.

>kat
>(back to lurking until I finish the book)



-------
Paul J. Schinder
schinder@pobox.com


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