On Dec 22, 2004, at 12:53 PM, Isaac Sherman wrote:
I'm new to this list, and I am new to Perl as well.
Isaac, just judging from your problem, it appears that you're probably a bit new to all things Unix as well (not trying to sound condescending, just an observation.) I got on OS X for the first time two years ago and that's about where I was so I can relate to what you're going through. I had lots of programming experience, had perl experience (via MacPerl), was a long time user of the classic Mac OS, and had a faint smattering of Unix know-how, but I kept running into odd frustrations like what you describe too because I didn't totally understand the whole Unix thing. Now I do and it's like a whole other world (well... it is, but anyway.)
My advice--if my assumption is correct--would be to seek out a few Unix books. I bought a couple of old Unix beginner books from secondhand stores and they proved to be worth every penny. Even outdated books on the topic are fine, anything to get your head around the whole concept of what's going on and how things like perl interact with the command line and whatnot. I'm still amazed at how powerful it all is and how I literally could not do my current job without the sort of understanding that I have now. It pays off in ways you simply cannot imagine.
--Rick Anderson "The only difference between me and a madman, is that I am not mad." -- Salvador Dali
