Programming Perl

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Larry Wall wrote Perl and he wrote Programming Perl. Better yet, he writes amusingly and well--all of which comes across in this latest edition of the definitive guide to the language.

Like Topsy, Perl just grew, and as a result the need for a third edition came about. It's now over 1,000 pages, which it needs to be, as it performs several different duties. First, it's an introduction to the Perl language for those who are new to programming; also, it's a guide for those who are coming from other languages; and, finally, it's a Perl language reference.

Among Larry Wall's other pursuits is being a linguist, and it's perhaps for this reason that Perl is a peculiarly flexible language with many routes to achieving the same ends, as the authors ably demonstrate. It's also extensible in several ways, designed to work with many other languages. Also, as it's largely interpreted, programs written in Perl tend to run unmodified on a variety of platforms--although platform-specific Perl modules and programming practices are also discussed.

A major strength of Programming Perl is the way subject areas are approached from several directions. This constant shift of viewpoint eliminates blind spots in the reader's understanding and provides a pleasing echo of the way Perl itself can take many routes from here to there.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Perl is a powerful programming language that has grown in popularity since it first appeared in 1988. The first edition of this book, Programming Perl, hit the shelves in 1990, and was quickly adopted as the undisputed bible of the language. Since then, Perl has grown with the times, and so has this book.

Programming Perl is not just a book about Perl. It is also a unique introduction to the language and its culture, as one might expect only from its authors. Larry Wall is the inventor of Perl, and provides a unique perspective on the evolution of Perl and its future direction. Tom Christiansen was one of the first champions of the language, and lives and breathes the complexities of Perl internals as few other mortals do. Jon Orwant is the editor of The Perl Journal, which has brought together the Perl community as a common forum for new developments in Perl.

Any Perl book can show the syntax of Perl's functions, but only this one is a comprehensive guide to all the nooks and crannies of the language. Any Perl book can explain typeglobs, pseudohashes, and closures, but only this one shows how they really work. Any Perl book can say that my is faster than local, but only this one explains why. Any Perl book can have a title, but only this book is affectionately known by all Perl programmers as The Camel.

This third edition of Programming Perl has been expanded to cover version 5.6 of this maturing language. New topics include threading, the compiler, Unicode, and other new features that have been added since the previous edition.

SYNOPSIS

Programming Perl is not just a book about Perl; it is also a unique introduction to the language and its culture, as one might expect only from its authors. This third edition has been expanded to cover Version 5.6 of Perl. New topics include threading, the compiler, Unicode, and other features that have been added or improved since the previous edition.

FROM THE CRITICS

Danny Yee - Electronic Review of Computer Books

Readers already familiar with Perl will presumably either own Programming Perl or have decided not to buy a copy, since it seems to be the only reference for the language. (It is certainly the standard one.) If you are thinking of learning Perl then you have a choice between using this book, using the companion volume Learning Perl, or hacking it out for yourself with the aid of the fairly comprehensive manual entry. Programming Perl worked fine for me, and it's probably the right way to go for anyone who can already program in C or shell. On the other hand, Learning Perl looks like a good textbook, and its existence makes Perl a suitable first language for those people who want to be able to write general purpose programs for their own use, rather than for commercial, scientific, or esoteric theoretical purposes.

The first two chapters of Programming Perl provide a basic introduction to Perl. The third and fourth are basically reference material, going in some detail through the syntax and semantics of the language and describing all of the functions available. The fifth and sixth chapters contain examples of useful Perl code fragments and real programs. The last chapter contains everything else. The appendices -- a BNF style grammar of Perl and a description of the Perl library functions -- improve the book's value as a reference, while the glossary will be helpful for those without a Unix and C background. Everything is liberally illustrated with examples, with the occasional redundancy doing no harm. The authors' sense of humor is always present, and they certainly don't take themselves too seriously -- Perl is the "Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister," and the three cardinal virtues of a programmer are "laziness, impatience and hubris!"

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