For Perl I would recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Perl.../dp/1861003145
It's also available free online:
http://books.simon-cozens.org/index.php/Beginning_Perl
Perl is a good choice for administration - its powerful, has a huge library of software available via CPAN and its available on all *nix and also windows (activestate.com). oh, and it also has good support for databases.
Python is interesting too. Its has a clean language implementation, is under active development (perl6 is not releasing anytime soon) and appears to be gaining some momentum.
Though I wonder if its just as easy to create the one-liner tools of Perl in Python also I believe CPAN is still unmatched.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solaris_Delta
I know nothing about programming. Time and time again, I've tried learning but continue running into a brick wall as far as putting everything together. I seem to only get one or two chapters into any book before running into this wall (I.E; I know and understand what an if,then statement does, but how do I integrate this into a larger project and what are some examples of projects I could work on).
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Get a good book, find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed and keep your laptop beside you and
try out the examples on the computer (<- and this is very important). Also try solving the exercise problems at the end of the chapter (if any). And don't be in a rush to finish the book, take your time and I am sure you will find the experience quite enjoyable.