Do not learn Perl

Python and Ruby have most of the fundamental advantages of Perl. I don't really miss Perl itself all that much when using them. CPAN on the other hand is damned hard habit to kick. It's addicting having a massive collection of (often) battle hardened code available for virtually any task.

<p><pre><code> You'll see Dictionary someDic = new Dictionary(); And dream of %someDic = () </code></pre> Seeing that has me dreaming of:<p><pre><code> someDic = {}</code></pre>

Do not learn how to use a pen and paper. The paper will get under your skin, especially if you give yourself paper cuts. You'll be able to bend and twist C++ code in ways you never dreamed of, like into a paper airplane. You'll miss all the intricate quirks and nuances, like how your pen stops writing when you use it upside down.<p>In short, if you wish to keep your sanity, do not learn how to use a pen and paper.

To me it is still a good idea to learn Perl, for the following reasons (different from the article):<p>You figure out why Python and Ruby were invented<p>It'll help you can figure out how to port existing Perl programs (that no one in your company wants to touch) to either Python or Ruby<p>You can more easily write code so hard to read that it virtually offers lifetime job security<p>(to be fair, without Perl I don't think the Internet would have had as much success in the very beginning since it was easier to put up a site with it. not to mention many of the major sites I still go to were built on it)

Is this one of those Internet "memes" making the rounds?<p><a href="http://webmat.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/do-not-learn-ruby/" rel="nofollow">http://webmat.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/do-not-learn-ruby/</a>

Ok, I'm guilty. I upvoted this "Do not learn Perl" post before reading that the article actually meant the opposite.<p>Please downvote this comment so I can pay for behaving like this was a different site.

For me, perl's killer app these days is the one-liner.<p>Where python has (for me, at least) muscled in on perl's niche as general-scripting-language-of-choice, perl remains unmatched as the most terrifyingly useful extension to the command-line that ever there was.

hmm ... couldn't almost every point in the article (and many more not in the article) be said of Lisp/Lisp-like languages ?

See <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3882" rel="nofollow">http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3882</a>