Customer Reviews

Perl: The Programmer's Companion

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I bought "Perl: The Programmer's Companion", I had a number of others books on Perl already, among which the well-known "Camel book" ("Programming Perl" by Larry Wall et al.). None of those books satisfied me: they were written by people more good at writing smart programs than understandable manuals.

"Perl: The Programmer's Companion" belongs to an higher class: the class of book written by talented, professional teachers. In this book, every single feature of Perl is clearly explained in detail. You can find simple, clear, meaningful and reusable examples of every element of the language. The book is clearly structured and it is easy to find what you need.

The author demonstrates a clear understanding of the human learning process, besides a clear dominance of the Perl language. You can follow him trustfully and relaxed: he will tell you what you need to know, without overloading and confusing you with irrelevant details.

If you are looking for your first (and last) book on Perl, this is the best you can find on the market.

Perl The Programmer's Companion is a great book for experienced programmers who want to learn Perl. While the camel book is the "must-have" reference, it really doesn't teach Perl programming. Chapman explains how to use Perl effectively, along with the language's subtleties and nuances. He also devotes some effort in describing good Perl programming style.

Easy to read, with many useful code examples in every chapter which I could use immedialtely in my work. I liked it a lot, and since I have plenty of *real* exercises from my job, I didn't miss the lack of contrived exercises at all!

One of the other reviewers (who gave the book only 2 stars) complained: >The wording was difficult to interpret. It seemed as if it was written for someone in their fourth year of college at Harvard University (which sort of an exagerration, but it did seem like that at times).<

The reviewer may not realize that the author is British. The British generally seem to be more articulate than Americans, so the language reflects that difference.

That aside, this book is a good choice for new Perl programmers, in that it is less "techie", although it still has some real substance to it.

The book has interesting things to say, and explains a number of tricky Perlisms quite nicely (e.g. eval() for exception handling).

Sadly, the design, typography and layout of the book are average, with confusing diagrams, poor choice of fonts, and some silly iconography.

The result is that this book is a worthwhile front to back read, but as a reference or 'companion' you would be better off with 'Effective Perl Programming'.

Going beyond the mere discussion of how things work, this book delves into how to make things actually work in a useful way. The writing is excellent, and it's actually laugh-out-loud funny in places.

This is the best-written, best-organized introduction to Perl I've read. The author never gets bogged down in the details, but manages to explain (or explain away) many of Perl 5's quirks lucidly and logically. The book's only weakness (an important one) is its lack of exercises or sample problems.

If you want to understand the logic of PERL and start working quickly with practical examples, this is THE book to buy. You won't be overwhelmed by details and syntaxical diagrams make PERL sometimes cryptic expressions quite clear. BRAVO!

Nigel Chapman has an awesome talent for conveying material clearly and concisely. In just 273 pages, you will learn all the basics and then some. Chapman copiously supplants his dictatorial, amusing content with practical examples. The tables dispersed throughout the book add to its value as a reference, and I've found them extremely useful on many occasions.

Be aware, however, that this book will confuse you in no time if you're not already familiar with another programming language. He doesn't start with the classic "Hello, world!" example but quickly jumps into regular expressions, and he doesn't go out of his way to explain concepts like arrays and objects before teaching their syntax. Chapman concludes with overviews of some useful modules and CGI programming (both sections are somewhat outdated by now, though).

My criticisms of this book are that its layout is somewhat primitive (this is not exactly a pretty book), and Chapman is afraid to venture too far into anything that's even slightly OS-dependent, like sockets and database programming (not included in his overview of modules). In my version, there also aren't any exercises at the end of the chapters.

Overall, however, this book is PERFECT for you if you're somewhat literate (in at least one programming language and in the English language) and would like to learn Perl as quickly as possible. Highly recommended. And unlike whatever reviewers have suggested, I think it makes a lovely reference, too.

Moderately experienced and seasoned Perl programmers looking for another book to contemplate on their way toward Perl mastery can't go wrong with this one. Nigel's prose is thoughtful and clear, and so is his Perl. And what do you know, the book is beautifully typeset as well! A little offbeat at times, but on the other hand it's helpful to experience a fresh new viewpoint. Useful and highly recommended.