In this class we are going to learn programming with PERL. We will not be learning windows or other microsoft products. Microsoft is evil. If you want to learn about evil stuff, you will have to do that on your own.
While we are learning PERL, we will also learn UNIX. UNIX is good (well, mostly good). You can get unix for free (well, not all flavors of unix are free, but the ones we are going to use are free). Perl is also free. Just because it is free does not mean it is an inferior product. For example, most web servers use the Apache web server. Apache is free. Microsoft has a web server IIS - and you have to pay big bucks to get it. But more companies use Apache than microsoft - not because it is free, but because it is a better product. (See www.netcraft.com.)
Okay, I have digressed. Let's talk about PERL for a minute. First of all, Perl is a powerful language for processing text. That makes it especially good for supporting web sites, which is why a good percentage of web sites you visit use perl. Check in the URL to see if the next file being called is a filename.pl -- that is a perl program being called. Second, perl is relatively easy, and will help you learn general programming faster. When we study the perl modules, you will realize that you can do some really neat things with only a few lines of code.
So what is the path we are going to take. We will learn perl and unix in parallel. And other topics as the need arises. We will learn perl from the very basic steps till we learn how to use modules. Once we are finished with the basic perl programming techniques, you will have learned the basic concepts for programming in any language. We will take the perl skills you have learned and build a dynamic web site. (We will have to learn HTML along the way, also.) I don't know what the subject of the web site is going to be - maybe you have some ideas. But when we get to that point, we will have learned quite a few neat things.
You can view the syllabus below. You can download it as a excel spreadsheet (Word97 version). I will try and post each weeks lesson here so you can look at it ahead of time, or refer back to it later. That will be in word97 format - for downloading - and also in html if you just want to look.
You will need to get a freeshell account (sdf.lonestar.org) to do the excercises in this class. That is explained in week 1. Also, you will need to purchase Elements of Programming with Perl by Andrew Johnson. You can get it at amazon.com for the best price I've been able to find. (I prefer bookpool - they usually have the best prices for technical books - except they don't carry this publisher.)
There are some other books they you can get - but they are optional. But you might find them helpful. They are a good introduction to the different subjects. They are published by Peachpit Press. They are easy to read, and not too expensive - about $12 or $13 if you buy them through bookpool.
