Hi Maarten,

On Fri, Dec 30, 2016 at 10:48:58AM +0100, Maarten wrote:

> Thanks for taking the time to response :) Yes it did help a bit, 
> although it didn't make my choice any easier ;) Since even here people 
> have different opinions about python and perl as in preference. I 
> decided to take Steven Haigh's advice and learn both, that way I can 
> find out for myself which I like better. Is it true of what I've heard, 
> that once you know one language it's easier to learn a second? So say I 
> first learn python, then it would be easier for me to learn perl 
> afterwards or the other way around?

Learning a second language is certainly much easier than a first one,
although I would say you should start to learn programming and not a
specific language, but that's a more philosophical discussion.

Starting with Python is certainly better than starting with Perl from
an educational point of view.

Unless you have a specific need to learn both and/or to use Perl, I do
not see a good reason to take the effort to learn Perl at this moment
as a second language, as they are in the same league.  If you want to
extend your programming skills beyond Python, I would suggest to start
learning C, and maybe even Javascript.  The latter not because it is a
nice language, it is not (although it inherits many things from
Python and Perl), but because it has quite some practical value in the
current era of web and even mobile app development.

But again, all opinions are just mine and YMMV ;-).

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