[pmarreck]

I think it depends on how you learn.

I like to get a "lay of the land" before I commit to a new lang so I read Dave Thomas' book on it while playing around with the language on small personal projects (same way I handled Ruby, read the Pickaxe book and did a few language experiments on my own). But YMMV.

I will say this- once you read the book it becomes ENTIRELY obvious to you who has not, when they ask certain questions, like "what is a sigil?"