If you want to blow your mind -- in the totally legal sense --
spend some time working with Perl's list and hash data
structures. As a means to organize, structure, and manipulate
data both lists and hashes are remarkably useful and versatile.
With lists and hashes you can juggle nearly any type of data,
simple or complex, from shopping lists to product catalogs
many levels deep. But more than one migraine has been inspired
by attempts to wrangle through the concepts and syntax of
complex lists and hashes. This month, we bear down and plunge
through what you need to know to manage and sort lists,
hashes, lists of lists, lists of hashes, hashes of lists,
and hashes of hashes. That dull ache you're beginning
to feel is mere anticipation!
