One of the benefits of being a member of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a variety of professional development resources online. I have taken advantage of the online book programs but not the online training. While starting a new job, I decided to refresh my perl knowledge by taking the online course “Fundamentals of Perl Programming” which is offered by SkillSoft.

As a refresher course, it was adequate. I learned perl years ago. My new company uses perl extensively, so I thought a refresher would be useful. The course pointed out some areas in which I am weak. However, the course did not provide enough depth (nor pointers to additional resources) to improve my skills in those areas.

If I were new to perl, I doubt the usefulness of the course. The course is structured such that snippets of perl syntax and converntions are presented. But there is very little overview and structure to provide guidance and tie it all together. If I did not know perl beforehand, I would not be able to write a perl program after completing the course.

There is a follow up perl course in the catalog. I am goint to take it and see if it exhibits the same issues as this first course.