Data Munging with Perl [Paperback]

David Cross (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1930110006 | ISBN-13: 978-1930110007 | Publication Date: January 15, 2001

Techniques for using Perl to recognize, parse, transform, and filter data.

Editorial Reviews

Review

" . . . well written, informative, thought provoking . . . will be as relevant five years from now as it is today. . . . buy [one]." -- Dr. Dobb’s Journal

"A very good resource for programmers who want to learn more about data parsing, data filters, and data conversion..." -- ACM Computing Reviews

"I found the sample problems and the author's solutions to be very well done. I . . . liked the design tips..." -- Pikes Peak Perl Mongers

"Well worth the price, and a good starting point for more advanced forays." -- Use.Perl.com

the chapters are concise, the coverage is comprehensive, and the examples are plentiful and relevant. -- Web Techniques Magazine

About the Author

Cross is the owner and managing director of Magnum Solutions, Ltd., an Internet and database consulting firm.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications (January 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930110006
• ISBN-13: 978-1930110007
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #974,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Perl hacker, writer and trainer. Owners of London-based open source consultancy, Magnum Solutions. Regular speaker at Perl and Open Source conferences. Started London Perl Mongers - sorry about that.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An apt description of Perl, February 12, 2001

By 

Adam Sroka (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Data Munging with Perl (Paperback)

I was perusing the shelves at my local bookstore, when this title jumped out and grabbed me. Not only is it a unique and interesting title (Something uncommon for computer books), but it is also the most succinct description of my job, and of Perl for that matter, that I have ever seen.

I am an avid reader, and in the interest of furthering my career most of my reading is work related. Normally, it takes me more than a month to read a book, though I am in the process of reading a half dozen or so at a time. I finished this book in less than a week. I couldn't put it down.

The thing that is so great about this book, is that it delves into the heart of what Perl does best (And was designed to do). Nine out of ten (more like ninety-nine out of one-hundred) jobs in Perl involve taking some sort of raw data, munging it, and spitting it out to some other process. This book is about doing that, many of the different forms that that can take, and some of the many techniques that perl (and a pragmatic approach) make available to do that.

While I hesitate to say that this is the best Perl book I've ever read (It's got some good competition), I can say that there is no application of Perl that I am aware of where this book and the principles it explores would not be of value. In my opinion this book belongs on every serious Perl programmer's bookshelf right next to the "Camel" and the "Cookbook".

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stop this man before he reveals everything!, February 26, 2001

By 

david l nicol (kansas city, missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Data Munging with Perl (Paperback)

Dave Cross's new book, published by Manning, which means it has a figure from an old guide to native dress of the peoples of the world on the cover instead of some kind of animal, tells everything you need to know about using Perl for what it is most suited for: manipulating data.

Starting with the source/filter/sink theory of data manipulation and demonstrating every tip and technique with clear and efficient examples, without severe digressions into mythological whimsy, this book would make an excellent second text on the Perl language, or a suitable first for someone who is good with programming languages.

Many of the techniques contained in it are of "trade secret" quality; they are the sort of write-the-number-of-gallons-of-paint-it-took-to-paint- the-room-on-the-back-of-the-light-switch-cover practices that until now had to be learned or happened upon by every programmer, alone, or by example, rather than in the context of a coherent theory.

The theoretical side, in which "munging" is defined and most software activity is described in terms of it, is clear enough that the book might be an interesting read for management, to answer the question "Just what is it about Perl that makes those who use it regularly so confoundedly fanatical?"

If you've ever been mystified by a Perl wizard who found it easier to export the records from the fancy GUI database into a comma delimited text file and then sort and display the data with mysterious little programs rather than use the GUI's native report generator, and want to find out why, or if you would like to become such a person yourself, or if you already are such a person but would like to get better at it, this book is for you.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Belongs on every sysadmin's desk, July 2, 2002

By 

Sean Burke (Ketchikan, Alaska, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Data Munging with Perl (Paperback)

This book isn't about arcane corners of Perl theory. It's about how to write Perl programs that perform the "simple" task of converting data from one format to another.

Need to get every headline from an RSS feed? Or report the three users with the most processes running, as listed by `ps`? Or extract the first paragraph from each of a thousand HTML files? Or make a .tsv file based on all the "From:" and "Subject:" lines in your mailbox file? If those sorts of tasks sound familiar to you, then this is the book you've been looking for. It has working code for doing these sorts of things, involving lots of different common kinds of formats.

By tech book standards, this book is short (300 pages), but it's clear and direct and to the point -- no bloat here. Every page tells you something you need to know, with useful examples for every idea that it explains.