Mastering Perl

Chapter 1. Introduction: Becoming a Master

This book isn’t going to make you a Perl master; you have to do that for yourself by programming a lot of Perl, trying a lot of new things, and making a lot of mistakes. I’m going to help you get on the right path. The road to mastery is one of self-reliance and independence. As a Perl master, you’ll be able to answer your own questions as well as those of others.

In the golden age of guilds, craftsmen followed a certain path, both literally and figuratively, as they mastered their craft. They started as apprentices and would do the boring bits of work until they had enough skill to become the more trusted journeymen. The journeyman had greater responsibility but still worked under a recognized master. When he had learned enough of the craft, the journeyman would produce a “master work” to prove his skill. If other masters deemed it adequately masterful, the journeyman became a recognized master himself.

The journeymen and masters also traveled (although people disagree on whether that’s where the “journey” part of the name came from) to other masters, where they would learn new techniques and skills. Each master knew things the others didn’t, perhaps deliberately guarding secret methods, or knew it in a different way. Part of a journeyman’s education was learning from more than one master.

Interactions with other masters and journeymen continued the master’s education. He learned from those masters with more experience and learned from himself ...