2/19    My supervisor wants to learn Perl but doesn't have any programming
        background...I don't know any book better than Wall's own but
        I question if he's capable of using it to do what he needs
        to do.  I also question whether there are any "kid gloves" books
        would "work" as in general I believe ya gotta pay your dues to get
        the clues..  Anyone have any advice on this?  --jnat
        \_ yes.  learn perl and make him depend on you for all his perl needs.
          \_ Ho ho ho!  But that's the current situation..  I guess the
                only option is to teach him myself?
                \_ No, don't be stupid.  The above was a perfectly good
                   answer.  Why would you want your boss to be able to do the
                   things you're currently doing?  Are you getting paid extra
                   to train people at your company?  Is that part of your job?
                   Does it enhance your career in any way to teach your boss
                   anything more than how to kiss your ass to get done what he
                   needs done?  You're in a great situation, don't fuck it up.
        \_ when the boss suddenly decides he wants to write code, is
           just about the #1 major disaster possible. Like you said, he
           has zero coding experience. So anything he writes is going
           to be crap. Your best course of action may be
           1. teach him some basics
           2. say why don't you try to do something now?
              [give him huge project, and say "I could do this in about
                a day"]
           3. Either he gives up, or makes a total mess ofit.
             Then say "This takes years of training. Maybe you should
             leave the programming to me from now on"