Learning Perl

books2 create new tag

Author(s): Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Phoenix, & brian d foy

Review

Learning Perl is one of the industry standard books on the Perl language published by O'Reilly Media. The 4th edition covers Perl version 5.8. Right now I am only about 25% of the way through the book, and so this review is incomplete at this time. However, I can tell you that this book is a delight to read, and I am sure will be a well used component of my reference library. O'Reilly has many other books on Perl, and this one seems to be a good entry point for those readers with substantial programming experience, but no direct Perl experience. The other books on the O'Reilly bookshelf include Advanced Perl, Intermediate Perl, Perl Best Practices, Perl Testing, Perl Debugger, and so forth.

Learning Perl is well written in an easy to read style. Note: that means the style and reading are easy. The Perl language is somewhat hard. Perl is very powerful, but the commands look a lot like a cat walked across the keyboard. Learning Perl assumes the reader has quite a bit of programming experience in other languages. Someone who writes computer programs 20+ minutes each day, will enjoy this book. Each chapter has exercises and a time estimate for completion. The authors are experienced educators, authors, and recognized experts in this topic.

The table of contents for Learning Perl includes the following:

Introduction

Scalar Data

Lists and Arrays

Subroutines

Input and Output

Hashes

In the World of Regular Expressions

Matching with Regular Expressions

Processing Text with Regular Expressions

More Control Structures

File Tests

Directory Operations

Strings and Sorting

Process Management

Perl Modules

Some Advanced Perl Techniques

Answers to chapter exercises are provided in Appendix A.

Note: I am reading this book because the TWiki software that powers this web site is written in the Perl language and the source code is available under the GNU license.

Reviewed by: JimCrum

Discuss This Book

• Here is an update: I gave up on this book about midway through. My Perl needs simply weren't great enough to cause me to invest the time that it would take to read the rest of the book. I now know how it is laid out, and if I every come across a Perl problem, I can probably find the appropriate discussion so that I can understand the program.

This book is for programmers only. It is best for programmers who intend to use the Perl language 2 or more hours per day. As a casual user, I just couldn't get a critical mass of proficiency to appreciate this book. -- JimCrum - 12 Dec 2008

Was This Topic Useful to You?

Choice

Select ...Very UsefulSomewhat UsefulNo OpinionNot Useful

Very Useful (2) Somewhat Useful (1)