[LUNI] Linux Programming

[Steven Lembark]

>> I have recently been considering the idea of teaching myself how to
>> program in Linux.  I currently do a little bash, perl, and php
>> programming for a wide variety of tasks, but as always I would like to
>> expend my horizons. Now I have come across a few genious tutorials on
>> Python and it seems to be quite interesting.  Could anyone give me some
>> feedback on what the most beneficial language would be to learn (eg.
>> Python, C++, TCL/TK, etc.)  I dont want to waste my time on something
>> that may prove to not be worth it later on.

Pick up a copy of Learning Perl (3rd ed, O'Reilly Press,
2001). It gives a good view of both OO and function-based
programming. If you're really into OO Damian Conway's
OO Perl is an excellent book -- both on OO in general and
Perl in particular.

Perl simplifies OO programming in two ways: The basic data
type is a high-level object and you don't have to entangle
the data and its behavior. The first saves you from spending
most of your time fiddling around with container classes
(scalars deal with numeric, string, etc, data by themselves).
Applying the classes as behavior simplifies the class design
and saves you from messy syntax common to most OO languages.

If you're seriously into OO check out Damian's Class::Contract
module. This implements an eiffel-type design by contract
interface. Nice thing is that it can be turned off in production
after the "contract" portion has done its real work. Gives you
the best of both worlds: Contract interfaces and good speed in
the real world.

enjoi.

--
Steven Lembark                               2930 W. Palmer
Workhorse Computing                       Chicago, IL 60647
                                            +1 800 762 1582