Customer Reviews

Sams Teach Yourself Perl 5 for Windows NT in 21 Days (Teach Yourself in 21 Days)

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

 

 

If you have a little bit of experience (even BASIC!), than 60% of the book will bore you (what is a variable, etc.) and the rest will not treat the topics in any depth. From Windows NT users a certain minimum knowledge can be expected and NT specific topics are not treated enough (i.e. how to maintain user accounts etc.). Too much blank space and lines in the book, it could be reduced to less than a third in pages without reducing the text and the readability.

The first impression is the large number of typos in the code. It seems to work well for teaching 'what' works in Perl, but totally skips any 'why' structure. It comes off as an infinite number of special exceptions. Some advice, such as in the Pattern Matching chapter is just plan wrong. Seems to have slipped out without being editted.

good coverage and clear writing. Nice set of excersises after each chapter and answers at the end. Works for Win95. Would heartily recommend to anyone needing to start with Perl. However, falls short on CGI programming

This book is a very quick and organized way to get up and going in Perl. By the end of day 7 (day seven will take more than a day if you do it right) you will have a good Perl foundation.

I have the Camel book that I go to from time to time (Camel has more humor and more technical content), but I use this book as my primary reference because of it's easy layout.

If you serious about Perl, also buy the Camel book as a deeper secondary reference.

I needed to learn a language to do some complex text processing very quickly. A friend suggested that Perl was a good language so I picked up this book. I have been programming for about 20 years and I learned to write Perl from this book in about 4 hours and wrote the code I needed. It continues to be an excellent reference book and I carry it with me whenever I think I will have to do some advanced text processing or file manipulation. Excellent book!

I stumbled on this book while cleaning out a cube and gave it a read. Obviously, this is a dated book.

Overall, it's an ok very basic introduction to Perl. However, it could create some bad programing habits so it should not be viewed as a resource for building core skills nor should you consider it a reference book.

Probably it's biggest value was that it showed how to do things in NT. But there are many resources for that now.

I was surprised that it attempted to talk about object oriented programing and CGI in 2 chapters. These topics have filled books.

So what is the value of this book? Well. If you have little money, then it's ok. Just remember to use strict and use warnings in the examples. Those two will save you grief and start you with a good programing habit. Don't take the book as gospel. Use it as a way to see some examples as what Perl can do.

After you read the book, look for the Perl docs and some sites like the perlmonks. That will get you on your way and in time you will see this book would not serve as a reference book.

Teach Yourself Perl 5 for Windows NT is the perfect place for anyone who wishes to learn Perl 5 for Win32 to start. With its comprehensive, step-by-step style, I was already programming Perl programs on my own on only Day 7! Additionally, whenever there was a place in the book that may change in the future, or where the reader might want to get more information about a certain topic, the author recommended books to read, and even gave web addresses, and the URL that an address may have changed to. And don't let the Windows NT part of the title fool you --- I run a Windows '95 system, and learned about only minor handicaps while both reading, and programming. Anyone who wants to learn Perl 5 for Win32 in 21 days, this book is where to start!

Most of what this book says about Windows NT works also for Windows 95, and the book is precise about the differences. The section on writing one's own clients and servers is marvelous. It is all clear. It all works. (This is in contrast to the documentation included in the Perl 5 download.

This book is better organized than Larry's famous book and it is easier to find information in it.

It is a great reference work and tutorial.

I have no background in programming, but also wanted to learn some scripting language to automate my tasks for administering Windows NT network. A friend of mine recommended me about Perl and i bought this book. And now i am a proud owner of this book.