Books on C/C++ for perl programmers

[l0cl]

There are many books on "perl for C/C++ programmers" but none for "C/C+
+ for perl programmers". Does anyone know of any such book or
tutorial?

Thanks in advance,

 

[ccc31807]

+ for perl programmers". Does anyone know of any such book or
tutorial?

I don't think that they are any, but that's not a problem.

There are many, many books on C and C++, and we each have our
favorites. I can vouch personally for a dozen or so, but I won't. Most
of them will probably get you into C or C++, it depends on what flavor
you want to study.

I like the Deitel series in general, but the focus is on the beginning
programmer. Ivor Horton also wrote a book that focuses on C++ for
the .NET framework and the Microsoft CLR that IMO is a particularly
strong book, but maybe not if you like gcc.

The thing to remember about Perl and C is that Perl is written in C
and expands C greatly. Your biggest challenge with C will be memory
management and pointers, both of which Perl handles in the background.

Why do you want to learn C? If you have a reason to learn C, like
mucking around inside Linux or unix or Perl, have at it. If not, let
me suggest that Perl is probably as close to C as your likely to
really need, and you might want to consider learning another language.

'Seven Languages in Seven Weeks' by Bruce Tate is a reasonable
starting point for exploring other languages on a superficial level.
If you have need, I'd highly recommend exploring Prolog, Erlang,
Haskell, or Lisp (Clojure).

If you prefer a non-standard language, I'd recommend XSLT, R, SQL, and
even LaTeX as something that you can learn quickly and put to use in
many circumstances.

If you want to increase your appeal to employers, I'd recommend you
learn Java or C# or (maybe) Python or Ruby as up-and-coming
technologies. C doesn't make this list because it's a niche language
in industry, and C++ doesn't make the list because it requires
substantially more time and experience to master.

http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html

Best, CC.

 

[John Bokma]

I don't think that they are any, but that's not a problem.

The only book I know that have both in the title is "Writing Apache
Modules with Perl and C"

If you want to increase your appeal to employers, I'd recommend you
learn Java or C# or (maybe) Python or Ruby as up-and-coming
technologies. C doesn't make this list because it's a niche language
in industry, and C++ doesn't make the list because it requires
substantially more time and experience to master.

I don't think there is a programming language that is easy to master;
or: I think they are all somewhat equally hard. And I don't mean
learning the syntax, I mean knowing all ins and outs of the language and
the common libraries/modules.

http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html

Oh, please, does anyone who can actually program take that list any
serious?

 

[ccc31807]

Oh, please, does anyone who can actually program take that list any
serious?

Hey, it is what it is, and it's worth exactly what you pay for it,
which is nothing.

My personal favorite gauge is dice.com, which tells me exactly what
technologies the HR people in my area think are important, which is
arguably more relevant to my personal situation.

CC.

 

[John Bokma]

Hey, it is what it is, and it's worth exactly what you pay for it,
which is nothing.

Mention the link at the end of an argument seems to imply differently,
though ;-)

My personal favorite gauge is dice.com, which tells me exactly what
technologies the HR people in my area think are important, which is
arguably more relevant to my personal situation.

I never understood the whole "I am going to learn this shiny language
because it's in high demand". It just means that one joins the
incompetent crowd; it takes years to become an expert on /any/
programming language (+ libraries/modules).

Useful link: http://norvig.com/21-days.html

Also free ;-)

 

[ccc31807]

I never understood the whole "I am going to learn this shiny language
because it's in high demand". It just means that one joins the
incompetent crowd; it takes years to become an expert on /any/
programming language (+ libraries/modules).

But you do understand the 'This language must be useful for stuff
because a lot of people are using it for stuff', don't you?

I agree that personal decisions shouldn't be driven by the crowd, but
I also think that 'crowd sourcing' can be a smart thing to do. It's
said that the herd is a lot smarter than the individual, and that with
enough eyes all bugs are shallow. Citations omitted.

CC.

 

[John Bokma]

But you do understand the 'This language must be useful for stuff
because a lot of people are using it for stuff', don't you?

Not really, at least if you mean: people are using it so it must be
useful [1]. I do understand that a lot of people somehow think that way,
but I don't or at least I try not to. I started with Perl because /I/
considered it useful (this was before the CGI hype). Of course others
helped and still help in seeing the light ;-)

I agree that personal decisions shouldn't be driven by the crowd, but
I also think that 'crowd sourcing' can be a smart thing to do.

Oh, I do care about the opinions of others, I mean I am sure I got into
Perl because others mentioned it (can't recall how I exactly got into
it, tbh). But if I was running with the crowd I probably would be coding
in PHP right now (and C back then). Or maybe Ruby. I do have books on
each language (and then some more), but I am actually studying Python
(besides Perl ;-)), and also currently looking into Emacs Lisp (for
obvious reasons) and Haskell.

It's said that the herd is a lot smarter than the individual,

Depends. This week I have several times noticed that if you put two
people who have half a clue together you don't get the same result as 1
person with clue. I have even the feeling that the sum of 2 people with
half a clue is less than half (or even less) a clue.

and that with enough eyes all bugs are shallow.

There are plenty of examples of bugs that have been in OSS for 10+
years. So enough eyes in itself is not enough. On top of that, we've all
seen (and made) bugs that even good eyes would read over the first
/several/ times.

Anyway, I recommend to learn a language because one wants to. Not
because others consider it useful / good / perfect. Nor because the most
jobs available are for that language. Nor would I recommend to ignore a
language because the crowd considers it "teh suck" (otherwise, why code
Perl).

[1] based on that I should consider religion useful for myself.