Perl 5 for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: It is a fast introduction to writing in Perl
Review: As an engineer, I've programmed in C/C++, Ada, Verilog, VHDL, and even assembly. (among others) I needed to learn Perl for a project I was working on, and I needed to learn it fast. I purchased "Perl 5 for Dummies" and read it cover to cover in a week. I typed in the intro programs on day 1, was modifying someone else's code by day 3, and was writing my own code as part of my job by day 5. if you want a fast, no nonsense, introduction to perl with plenty of examples, this book can give you what you want.

Rating:
Summary: Out of print? WHY????
Review: I learned how to program perl with this book, having no previous experience in programming. I have since gone on to other languages, but I never would have gotten started if I hadn't read Perl5 for Dummies. Why, oh, why take it out of print?

Rating:
Summary: Good intro before hitting the O'Reilly books!
Review: If you don't know anything about programming, this book will give you a good intro before heading to the O'Reilly books (the first I'll read after this: Learning Perl, 2nd edition).

This Dummies book gives a good plain-English overview of Perl and general programming concepts. I didn't find the CD to be very useful (I got more recent Perl builds off the web), but it would be handy for someone who doesn't have easy access to the web.

The book doesn't go into much advanced stuff, and it could use some DIY exercises. But it's a good intro, nonetheless.

Rating:
Summary: Out of print? WHY????
Review: Perl 5 for Dummies is a great book. It contains a treasure trove of information. It will get you up and running Perl fast. A few problems gives this book 4 stars: CD is out of date(Perl is free tho, so...) and no review questions. Often times I had to read the chapters 2 or 3 times for all of the information in the book to sink in. Otherwise, its great, and I loved the cartoons.

Rating:
Summary: Lets be honest here.
Review: This book might be a little better if you know something about PERL. Let me explain my situation, I've setup enough scripts to know enough about UNIX so I'm not a complete idiot. I know the insides and out of HTML, and some javascript.

I think this book goes to much into useless commands for a begginer. It starts out with some commands that are utterly useless for a begginer like me. And it starts out by describing 2 scripts and ever part of it, which I don't find useful at all. I would not recommend it to a non-PERL intermediate.