Re: [MacPerl] Reading/Writing JavaScript Array in Perl (redux)

[Brian McNett <webmaster@mycoinfo.com>]

> And, for what it's worth, _Mastering Algorithms with Perl_
> (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565923987) is also out.  This book
> is good at what it sets out to do, but I doubt it will appeal to the
> majority of perl programmers.  I suspect most people use perl because they
> don't want to be bothered implementing their own lists,  hashes, sort
> routnies, etc.  But there's lots of content in there (check
> http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/maperl/ for a table of contents.)  Your
> mileage may vary.

Actually, I have a slightly *different* take on this book:

Something like this has LONG been needed.  Algorithms are at the HEART of 
all programming.  This book teaches you the "Big-O" notation for 
time-efficiency.  Too often, Perl programmer's fall back on techniques 
best described as "naive."  Having a practical guide to some very basic 
(and not so basic) algorithms in Perl is a VERY good thing.

Sometimes Perl's sort() function isn't enough.  It's completely 
inadequate on it's own when dealing with data with high-dimensional 
structures.  You really need to know how to do a k-dimensional tree when 
the number of dimension in your sort is much greater than say 8.  
Otherwise you're code is wasting a LOT of time.

I think that lot of perl programmers will pass on this book, thinking 
just as you do.  They're badly mistaken.  You NEED this book!

O'Reilly continues to impress.

--B

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