Programming the Perl DBI [Paperback]

Tim Bunce (Author), Alligator Descartes (Author)

Book Description

Series: Programming | Publication Date: February 4, 2000

One of the greatest strengths of the Perl programming language is its ability to manipulate large amounts of data. Database programming is therefore a natural fit for Perl, not only for business applications but also for CGI-based web and intranet applications.

The primary interface for database programming in Perl is DBI. DBI is a database-independent package that provides a consistent set of routines regardless of what database product you use--Oracle, Sybase, Ingres, Informix, you name it. The design of DBI is to separate the actual database drivers (DBDs) from the programmer's API, so any DBI program can work with any database, or even with multiple databases by different vendors simultaneously.

Programming the Perl DBI is coauthored by Alligator Descartes, one of the most active members of the DBI community, and by Tim Bunce, the inventor of DBI. For the uninitiated, the book explains the architecture of DBI and shows you how to write DBI-based programs. For the experienced DBI dabbler, this book reveals DBI's nuances and the peculiarities of each individual DBD.

The book includes:

• An introduction to DBI and its design
• How to construct queries and bind parameters
• Working with database, driver, and statement handles
• Debugging techniques
• Coverage of each existing DBD
• A complete reference to DBI

This is the definitive book for database programming in Perl.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The birth of new modules for the Perl scripting language is a regular occurrence, and the publication of an O'Reilly book about one of these modules is a sign of coming of age. Perl's DBI module, which facilitates the database-independent operation of Perl, achieves its rite of passage this month with the arrival of Alligator Descartes and Tim Bunce's excellent Programming Perl's DBI. Perl's DBI interface is maintained by Bunce and includes submodule interfaces to Oracle, MySQL, Sybase, Microsoft ODBC, and many other smaller databases. O'Reilly Perl book aficionados take note: this is the cheetah book, named for the animal that graces its cover.

Far from being a formalized how-to or man page, Programming Perl's DBI is a mini textbook in database programming, ideal for CPAN-savvy Perl programmers with little or no experience in database programming. Descartes and Bunce develop primitive notions of databases by using flat files, and they introduce relational databases with careful didactic motivation. The example database used throughout the book contains ancient sacred monolithic sites in the UK and elsewhere, of which Stonehenge is the most famous. Readers will learn about these primitive places while storing, updating, deleting, sorting, and locking their descriptors using flat files, nonrelational and relational databases, and a tutorial on SQL. The last chapters describe the peculiarities of interacting with ODBC and introduce DBI's Perl-less diagnostic shell and database proxying.

The authors use many modules--including DBI itself--that are not part of the vanilla Perl distribution, and Descartes and Bunce introduce them without explaining where to find or build them. Perl newbies with no CPAN experience may find themselves derailed early. The Storage module seems not to be available on CPAN at all (at the time of this writing). Fortunately, DBI and friends build, test, and install seamlessly under Linux/Red Hat 6.1.

At 350 pages, Programming the Perl DBI is 60 percent text--filled with highly annotated Perl code--and 40 percent appendices covering a detailed specification of DBI and 3-to-5-page descriptions of each of the 14 supported databases. Brevity is a large component of this book's wit. Clarity is the rest of it. --Peter Leopold

Review

'The book is very well written with frequent examples. It certainly maintained my interest from beginning to end. I mirrored the authors' examples with my own MySQL databases and had no problems. I learnt SQL as well. If you need to interact with databases and you have access to Perl, then this book is a must.' - Mick Farmer, news@UK, June 2000

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 1 edition (February 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565926994
• ISBN-13: 978-1565926998
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases > Relational Databases

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

220 of 242 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Useless for all but complete beginners, February 21, 2000

By 

Sam (SF) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Programming the Perl DBI (Paperback)

The book is called "Programming the Perl DBI." It was written by the DBI's inventor and earliest developer. It sounds like the perfect book for information-starved developers looking to go beyond the trivial examples of using DBI that are easily found on the web for free. It sounds too good to be true. That's because it is. Unless you're a complete beginner or an internet millionaire with more money than brains, do not buy this book.

This book is 8 chapters long plus 3 appendices. The first 3 chapters are pure filler (intro, a discussion of non-DBI databases, and an SQL primer) while the remaining 5 do little more than provide a long-winded version of what can be found in the DBI man page. Two of the appendices are practically cut and pasted from man pages while the third is a forum for one of the authors to get on a soap box and ramble about his pet cause (which, incidentally, has zero to do with programming the Perl DBI).

The examples are hardly illuminating for anything other than the most basic applications. And there's no discussion at all of using DBI with mod_perl and Apache, an increasingly popular way to use DBI ("Apache" and "mod_perl" aren't even in the index). In short, there's nothing here for an average or better programmer that can't be gotten easily off the web for free.

This is one case where the old adage rings true: "Do not judge a book by it's cover". Do not buy this book.

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A book about the DBI, not programming databases from Perl., June 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Programming the Perl DBI (Paperback)

This is a good book, IF:
- You want the online documentation with some extra fluff on databases, extra examples and the DBI spec. in one handy place (pages 187 - 333 are pretty much available online, the rest of the book is the online material filled out).
- You are interested in learning about the DBI, the book is about the DBI rather than database programming.

This is not a good book, IF:
- You want to learn how to program databases from the web (the widest application of Perl today is covered on one example/page and is an absolute joke).
- You want to learn how to program databases other than Oracle (the massive Windows market, and other markets are left to you, the reader, to extrapolate techniques from the book to practice).

This is a terrible book, IF:
- You are a Perl/programming beginner.
- You want to learn about databases.
- You want to troubleshoot your application (to not include much more driver specific material, when the DBI relies so heavily on the database's driver, means that essentially the book's use is very limited in the real world).

The DBI is a great tool in the Perl armoury; this book does not do it justice. You will learn more from the online documentation, DBI mailing list and the very generous Perl community than you could ever get from here - save your money (The forthcoming 'Web Databases with Perl' from Manning looks far more promising, but it's not out until Oct 2000).

Of course, if the book is supposed to be nothing more than a guide to the DBI in the very limited scope of being a recycle and slight expansion of existing material, then you can't fault it, and it is a nice read. A lot of the reviews for the book reflect this sentiment. However, if you are after more, you will end up questioning what O'Reilly were thinking. On these grounds three stars is generous.

53 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I expected more., February 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Programming the Perl DBI (Paperback)

I am by no means a DBI master . . . but, I still expected more from this book. To be fair, I did get some "finer points" clarified for me, and saw some features of DBI I hadn't used before that I will try in the future. However, I didn't get enough out of it to have it be worth the price tag. Try this book only if you can't deal with the pod documentation that comes with the DBI module. (Or borrow it from a friend!)