Learning Perl by Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Christiansen, Brian D. Foy, Larry Wall (Foreword by)

Synopsis

Ask Perl programmers what source they relied on most when learning the language, and a vast majority will point to this book. Written by recognized leaders in the Perl community, this fifth edition is updated for all changes to the language up to Perl 5.10. Now designed to meet the pace and scope sought by today's programmers, the book retains the detailed discussions, thorough examples, and eclectic wit that made it famous.

Annotation

The most popular introductory Perl language tutorial has been revised to include CGI scripting and updated to Perl 5.004. Introduces the Perl environment then focuses on the syntax and structure of the language itself. Explains scalar data concepts, lists, arrays and control structures. Clarifies hashes, shows how to use functions, regular expressions and pass arguments. This is also a guide through file handles, file tests, formats and fieldholders. Covers topics on file and directory manipulation, process management, data transformation and database access. Concludes with a good introduction to CGI scripting in preparation for advanced Perl topics. Text is well organized and topics are clearly explained. Exercises, questions and solutions are in the publication, along with supplementary material online.

Booknews

A hands-on tutorial featuring exercises and complete solutions, covering basics rather than advanced issues. Contents include Perl basics, the language's broad capabilities, brief code examples, system commands, and how to manage DBM databases using Perl. This second edition contains a new chapter on CGI programming. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Biography

Randal L. Schwartz is a two-decade veteran of the software industry. He is skilled in software design, system administration, security, technical writing, and training. Randal has coauthored the "must-have" standards: Programming Perl, Learning Perl, Learning Perl for Win32 Systems, and Effective Perl Learning, and is a regular columnist for WebTechniques, PerformanceComputing, SysAdmin, and Linux magazines.

Tom Phoenix has been working in the field of education since 1982. After more than thirteen years of dissections, explosions, work with interesting animals, and high-voltage sparks during his work at a science museum, he started teaching Perl classes for Stonehenge Consulting Services, where he's worked since 1996. Since then, he has traveled to many interesting locations, so you might see him soon at a Perl Mongers' meeting. When he has time, he answers questions on Usenet's comp.lang.perl.misc and comp.lang.perl.moderated newsgroups, and contributes to the development and usefulness of Perl. Besides his work with Perl, Perl hackers, and related topics, Tom spends his time on amateur cryptography and speaking Esperanto. His home is in Portland, Oregon.

brian d foy has been an instructor for Stonehenge Consulting Services since 1998, a Perl user since he was a physics graduate student, and a die-hard Mac user since he first owned a computer. He founded the first Perl user group, the New York Perl Mongers, as well as the Perl advocacy nonprofit Perl Mongers, Inc., which helped form more than 200 Perl user groups across the globe. He maintains the perlfaq portions of the core Perl documentation, several modules on CPAN, and some stand-alone scripts. He's the publisher of The Perl Review, a magazine devoted to Perl, and is a frequent speaker at conferences including the Perl Conference, Perl University, MarcusEvans BioInformatics '02, and YAPC. His writings on Perl appear in The O'Reilly Network, The Perl Journal, Dr. Dobbs, and The Perl Review, on use.perl.org, and in several Perl usenet groups.