Perl Programming
Five great books for learning Perl and regular expressions
If you're interested in learning Perl, you've got lots of
company. More and more programmers are realizing how close to
miraculous Perl can be for getting things done quickly and
efficiently. Why learn Perl? Its high-level syntax and powerful
implementation of regular expressions make it a great tool for
cranking out applications that perform complex text manipulation. It
is also widely used for writing CGI applications for the World Wide
Web. Perl's C-like syntax makes it easy to learn, yet the
language dispenses with pointers, memory allocation, memory-oriented
data types, and all the errors that these features can lead you
into.
Perl is portable across most Unix systems and is even available
on the Macintosh and Windows NT platforms. For object fans, the latest
release, Perl 5, introduces object-oriented extensions to the
language. Finally, Perl is available free of charge through a GNU
license and is probably installed on your Unix system already.
Anyone who wants to learn Perl is blessed with an unusually good
selection of books. We review five of the best, including a classic by
Larry Wall, the author of the Perl language.
The latest update to one of the most readable crash courses in
programming we've seen, Learning Perl, Second
Edition, will teach you the core of the Perl 5 language,
while introducing regular expressions, directory and file
manipulation, process management, database access, and CGI
programming. Learning Perl is probably too concentrated for
total novices, but if you've had some experience in another
programming language, you'll be able to follow the discussion
easily. Exercises at the end of each chapter (with answers
thoughtfully provided in an appendix) let you test your growing
knowledge. Authors Randal L. Schwartz and Tom Christiansen are close
associates of Larry Wall, the language's creator.
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Regular expressions, a symbolic system for precisely describing and
parsing text, isn't unique to Perl, but it is one of Perl's most
powerful features. Jeffrey E. F. Friedl 's Mastering
Regular Expressions is an excellent and detailed
introduction to the general concept of regular expressions. The guide
also covers a number of specific implementations, with the lion's
share (over 100 pages) devoted to Perl regular expressions. Anyone
using Perl for intensive text manipulation should study this book.
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A classic by the author of the Perl language and his close associates,
Programming Perl is a language bible that
every serious Perl programmer should own. In addition to a quick
language tutorial, you'll find detailed treatment of Perl's language
fundamentals, built-in functions and standard libraries,
object-oriented extensions, debugger, and a host of other
features. The tone is deft, chatty, and to the point--a real pleasure
to read.
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David Till's Teach Yourself Perl 5 in 21 Days
is a good choice for those with little or no programming
experience. This manual's steady pace and detailed explanations will
start novices at the beginning and guide them methodically through the
fundamentals. While the book offers good coverage of the Perl
language, its treatment of Perl 5's new object-oriented features is
somewhat cursory. Teach Yourself Perl 5 in 21 Days also does
not attempt to teach CGI programming or other specialized
applications. Experienced programmers will want a faster-paced
tutorial.
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Perl 5 How-To is a real power-programmer's
toolkit, packed with practical solutions to hundreds of real-world
problems that you'll confront in a production environment. The guide
also provides systematic coverage of the language, so if you're at
home in Unix and have another language under your belt (preferably C),
is a great accelerated tutorial. Novices will find
Perl 5 How-To tough and will do better with a more elementary
selection.
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