this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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I’m curious, what’s an item, tool, or purchase you own that you feel has completely justified its cost over time? Could be anything from a gadget to a piece of furniture or even software. What made it worth it for you?

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[–] digdilem@lemmy.ml 27 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

A book. Teach yourself Perl in 30 days. (Edit - may have been 21 days)

I bought it around 25-30 years ago. I have dyslexia and autism and have had problems learning from books in the past, but something about the way that was written just clicked for me.

It allowed me to write some pretty cool software, including a huge system that ran a large animal charity for a very long time, tons of automation software and scripts, and several full webuis. Indirectly it led me to a new career where I write perl every day.

(I can write in many other languages now, but that was the keystone of everything for me)

[–] cdf12345@lemmy.zip 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It’s it possible the title was Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days?

[–] digdilem@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 days ago

Yes, I maybe misremembered the title. I couldn't find it in a quick search and it's up in the loft in a box somewhere.

[–] atmorous@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Which book if you don't mind me asking?