$ % @ are Good Things
If you have any experience with other programming languages you might be surprised by
the code $var=10. With most languages, if you
want to assign the value 10 to a variable called
var you'd write var=10.
Not so in Perl. This is a Feature. All variables are prefixed with a symbol such as $ @ % . This has certain advantages, like making
programs easier to read. Honestly, I'm serious! It just takes some getting used to. The
prefixes mean that you can see where the variables are quite easily. And not only
that, what sort of variable it is. The human language German has a similar
principle (except nouns are capitalised, not prefixed with $ and
Perl is easier to pronounce). You'll agree later, I think.
So, ever onwards. Time to try some more variables:
$string="perl"; $num1=20; $num2=10.75; print "The string is $string, number 1 is $num1 and number 2 is $num2\n";
