Perl

I like Perl, and found it quite easy to pick up. It is, however, very easy to write bad code in Perl. Coming from a programming background should help with this aspect.

Oh, and Javascript isn't Java. At all. Two separate languages. My Java is reasonable, my Javascript is bad (I don't know the DOM very well).

 

If you learn how to write good SQL/SQR code, you can make money working on SAP and PeopleSoft projects till the cows come home.

 

Java is a fully functional language, designed by Sun. Javascript was an invention of Netscape, and is primarily used to create dynamic web pages. Personally, I would much rather be a Java expert. Obviously, there's a lot more to Java. The relationship between C & C++ is a real one. Java & Javascript just share the word "java".

 

Perl is pretty easy to learn, although I'm partial to Python myself. SQL and PHP would be cool too, but I'd up and learn C/C++ and Java and Perl or Python before embarking on those -- take it one language at a time and don't jump around inbetween them.

 

The basic select statement, and it's permutations are easy. Creating reports is fairly easy. It gets tough when you start factoring in effective dated logic. I've also found doing SQL with accounting issues (account codes, distribution percentages) tough. So the answer is...simple SQL/SQR is easy, but it gets exponentially harder depending on how fancy the client wants to get.

 

After having to edit a couple of pages that were written with Perl I decided I would do anything I could to not use it again. The syntax just seemed so convaluted that nothing made sense. Maybe it was just that the code was written so badly the first time but I didn't like it. I also didn't spend any time trying to learn it, I just learned enough to do what I had to.

If you want to learn it for the web then I would suggest PHP instead, it's easy to learn, can do just about anything you need, and has good online documentation.

SQL would be good to learn and isn't difficult to get started with. Anytime you work with a database you'll be using SQL so it comes in handy to know it.

 

Personally, I would suggest C++, Java, and SQL (if you're going to consider that a programming language). Perl is a nice to have, but I don't know how marketable it is really.

I would liken learning programming languages to learning spoken languages. The more you learn, the easier they become. Once you become accustomed to the programming paradigm that you're using (OO, procedural), one language is much like another.

The more languages you have in your toolbox, the more able you'll be to choose the appropriate tool for the job. Just don't try to learn too many at once. Take things slowly, get a good in-depth understanding of each language in turn. Of course, you should try to set yourself little projects to practice on. Don't be content with just working through a text book, try to apply your knowledge. But you probably knew that already.


DrLudicrous:
Therein lies the problem with Perl. If I don't follow best practices, I could easily code in Perl so that even I couldn't follow what I had done several months later. I'd suggest that Perl is better to come onto after learning a more strict language, so that you'll code in a more friendly way.

 

My advice is to focus on programming rather than on learning languages. The concepts are the same regardless of the language that use. The syntax is different but that's easy to pick up.