Perl is a useful language for achieving automation in MSWindows because it combines a Visual Basic style of coding with Perl's strength as a scripting language for running jobs automatically. This text shows how to control many Win32 systems processes without immediate user interaction.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Written for those with some previous knowledge of Perl, Scott McMahan's Automating Windows with Perl brings the spirit of Perl to Windows along with several handy sample scripts that can simplify the life of any administrator or advanced programmer.
Instead of a tutorial on the basics of Perl, this book concentrates on explaining the philosophy of Perl on Unix and what it's good for on the Windows platform. In short, concise chapters, McMahon provides sample scripts for specific tasks done in Win32 Perl. For example, there's a cron utility (for scheduling) and another script for sending mail via SMTP. For administrators, the book shows how to automate nightly backups of directories into .ZIP files.
For programmers, it shows that the traditional advantages of Perl for managing builds translates well into Win32, where it can be used to automate virtually any programming build. There is also a simple example of a COM object created in Visual C++ that can be scripted using Perl. Coverage of Win32 Perl CGI shows what CGI is and how it works. Later sections cover a wide variety of short topics, such as which code editor to use, and a number of custom utilities that can inspire you to think of ways to use Perl in real-world settings.
This short book doesn't aim to be comprehensive. Instead, it provides a nice selection of sample scripts, as well as a guide to understanding the spirit of Perl and the real advantages it offers for any Windows administrator or developer. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered: Perl history and overview, a Win32 Perl cron utility, using SMTP e-mail with Win32 Perl, automated backups, Microsoft Office 97 automation, integrating project executables: "smoke testing," automating rebuilds, C++ add-ins for Perl with Visual C++, CGI scripting, and Perl hints and tips.
About the Author
Scott McMahan manages a network of Windows and UNIX machines at Softbase Systems Inc, and has been using Perl since 1992. He is a book reviewer and author for the online site 'Cyber Reviews', and an occasional contributor to 'Windows Developer's Journal'.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
This book reminds me of a 5 page term paper stretched to 200,
By A Customer
This review is from: Automating Windows with Perl with CDROM (Paperback)
I am disappointed that I bought this book. The title and description lead a person to believe that they will gain the knowledge needed to use Perl for Windows. Instead the author spends half the book explaining outdated technologies, lamenting over switching between programming languages, and defending the way that he writes Perl code. The other half is unedited code which is basic in nature and undocumented. This book includes no good reference material, and is not tested with any recent windows products. The author simply states that the correct modules exist (i.e. net::smtp) but that he didn't take the time to look at them for the book, and you can just do it by hand this way... I repeat, there is not a shred of Perl for Windows resource information in this book!!! I sure hope that 1 star is the lowest rating because that is what this 5 page term paper stretched to 200 pages deserves.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointment,
By A Customer
This review is from: Automating Windows with Perl with CDROM (Paperback)
Pretentious title and not enough material for a book. Four pages wasted on editors for win32 (not even in an appendix). A lot of material that has got absolutely nothing to do with Perl and should not even be mentioned. The only positive thing that can be said about the book is that it sometimes touches subjects that I have not yet seen treated in any other Perl book.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
An amateur, who got no help from his editors,
By A Customer
This review is from: Automating Windows with Perl with CDROM (Paperback)
Rather than showing you how to use OLE or COM directly and extensively from Perl, as I had hoped, the book's main point seems to be that you can call VB macros from Perl. It offers little help in learning VB or the Windows-specific features in Perl.To his credit, his approach is very Perl-like: Use Perl as a glue language to bring other elements together to do work for you. However, the book does little to teach you how. I was very disappointed.
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