PERL Miscellaneous - I sometimes find answers very confusing

Author

I sometimes find answers very confusing

pauliecat@sasktel.net

2005-05-26, 3:58 pm

I admit it. I find perl very confusing, so I come here to try and find
answers. However, in many instances, a question is posted, and the
response gives a portion of the entire script. This is where my idiocy
comes in. I can't figure out how to use the answers. My brain goes
round and round, I try to figure out how to construct the entire script
around the code, and I usually get nowhere.

Now, I don't expect people to write code for me, but if more complete
scripts were given to problems, I do think I would have a much easier
time and learn faster. I could use these scripts as references, then
seeing a little snippet of code would make more sense.

I have 4 perl books and the same thing here. Just the part of the code
to use, but it never given as a complete script. Then i need to try and
figure out how to use it. I do have one book that gives the entire
script then tells you where exactly to make changes to solve different
problems using that script. The only problem is, there is no examples
of things I need to figure out.

phaylon

2005-05-26, 3:59 pm

pauliecat@sasktel.net wrote:

> Now, I don't expect people to write code for me, but if more complete
> scripts were given to problems, I do think I would have a much easier time
> and learn faster.

I would prefer the other way: More descriptions for the "Why" instead of
some code-only posts purely aimed at the "How".

--
http://www.dunkelheit.at/

The eternal mistake of mankind is to set up an attainable ideal.
-- Aleister Crowley

Anno Siegel

2005-05-26, 3:59 pm

pauliecat@sasktel.net <pauliecat@sasktel.net> wrote in comp.lang.perl.misc:
> I admit it. I find perl very confusing, so I come here to try and find
> answers. However, in many instances, a question is posted, and the
> response gives a portion of the entire script. This is where my idiocy
> comes in. I can't figure out how to use the answers. My brain goes
> round and round, I try to figure out how to construct the entire script
> around the code, and I usually get nowhere.
>
> Now, I don't expect people to write code for me, but if more complete
> scripts were given to problems, I do think I would have a much easier
> time and learn faster. I could use these scripts as references, then
> seeing a little snippet of code would make more sense.

[...]

Welcome to Usenet!

We are a bunch of people who like to discuss Perl on this medium, no
more no less. You ask a question, and those who take an interest
discuss it. The discussion may not even involve an attempt to solve
the problem, it could focus on some other aspect. Whether code is
used to discuss it, and whether such code comes in complete scripts
or snippets is entirely up to the poster.

Your best bet to get what you want is set the stage yourself: include an
illustrative ready-to-run script with your question. That makes it more
likely that answers will be in terms of the code *you* posted. Then it
will be much clearer how to apply a correction to your program, even if
the correction is only a snippet.

Anno

Alan J. Flavell

2005-05-26, 3:59 pm

On Thu, 26 May 2005, Anno Siegel wrote:

> Your best bet to get what you want is set the stage yourself:
> include an illustrative ready-to-run script with your question.
> That makes it more likely that answers will be in terms of the code
> *you* posted.

Indeed. Not forgetting to mention what task the code is meant to
solve, since this is frequently not evident from the code itself.
Often enough there may be a better approach to solving the task;
without knowing what the task is, that opportunity is lost.

IMHO and YMMV

ioneabu@yahoo.com

2005-05-26, 3:59 pm

pauliecat@sasktel.net wrote:
> I admit it. I find perl very confusing, so I come here to try and find
> answers. However, in many instances, a question is posted, and the
> response gives a portion of the entire script. This is where my idiocy
> comes in. I can't figure out how to use the answers. My brain goes
> round and round, I try to figure out how to construct the entire script
> around the code, and I usually get nowhere.
>
> Now, I don't expect people to write code for me, but if more complete
> scripts were given to problems, I do think I would have a much easier
> time and learn faster. I could use these scripts as references, then
> seeing a little snippet of code would make more sense.
>
> I have 4 perl books and the same thing here. Just the part of the code
> to use, but it never given as a complete script. Then i need to try and
> figure out how to use it. I do have one book that gives the entire
> script then tells you where exactly to make changes to solve different
> problems using that script. The only problem is, there is no examples
> of things I need to figure out.

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

print "Don't give up, you can do it!", "\n";

-----------------------------------

I complete script that you can run if you get frustrated.

A few tips:

1) type and run a lot of examples and make modifications to see what
happens
2) don't be intimidated by the first chapter of "Learning Perl"
3) don't be intimidated by regular expressions
4) write scripts that solve your real world problems as soon and as
often as you can
5) read comp.lang.perl.misc often and don't be offended by perceived
rudeness or criticism

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I agree that most
examples should be complete, executable scripts, but in many cases,
it's probably not practical as it may clutter the discussion and
distract the reader from the point being made.

wana

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