oi, computer geeks

[quesarah]

I'm checking out some of the Bioinformatics classes that are offered Winter 2006. The only class currently offered is Intermediate Perl Programming. OK that's over my head, so let's check out the prerequisite class Introduction to Perl Programming. Prerequisites for that class are: " Familiarity with UNIX, C and/or Bourne shells. The C programming language and sed/awk/grep is recommended."

OK, I have a passing familiarity with UNIX -- been a while since I've used it but I'm sure it'll come back. But C? Never used it. Here's my question: is this a topic that I'd be better off taking a class to learn? Or should I just grab a good reference and get reading?

Thanks.