Reference
thirty
build
Oriented
You have books on Perl at your library?, Wow! Normally it's Java, VB, or some other crap Microsoft makes, like windows.
BSD Unix all the way!
Nikolas Britton: Do not discount the math and therory so readily...... it is very important for a solid base of understanding and knowledge. I am quite glad that my doctor or dentist did not skip over some of the fundamental therories and basics of their profession. Again, instead of wasting your time (and our time) rejecting the suggestions of others here, you should just GO TO YOUR LIBRARY and actually personally inspect various books to determine if they meet your "practicality" standard. If so, then check them out, if not, then don't. electricitym . . .
Not every country has good or many public libraries and any books there are, of course, in local languages. However much of the technical material that universities in these countries use, are in fact, invariably English lanuage textbooks. So, students do research in book stores, some of which are quite understanding about that. A few good recommendations are thus useful since international textbook purchase is generally free of restriction.
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