Writing Perl Modules for CPAN [Paperback]

Sam Tregar (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 159059018X | ISBN-13: 978-1590590188 | Publication Date: August 9, 2002 | Edition: 1

¿Writing Perl Modules for CPAN¿ offers Perl developers a comprehensive guide to using and contributing to the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN). Starting with a general overview of CPAN¿s history, network topology, and navigational mechanisms, the book then quickly brings readers up to speed regarding how to search out and install available modules. However, in the true Open Source spirit, author and experienced Perl developer Sam Tregar teaches readers how to not only use, but also contribute to CPAN via an in-depth discussion of module creation, submission, and maintenance. Beginning with a survey of basic design principles, Tregar takes care to discuss all issues relevant to developers wishing to create great Perl modules, including choosing a proper name, using Perl¿s POD (plain old documentation) feature, concepts surrounding functional and object-oriented API development, and much more. Tregar then proceeds with a complete dissertation of how modules should conform to CPAN module specifications, covering required distribution files and coding considerations, in addition to offering advice regarding proper module testing. After demonstrating how to create a module and prepare it for release, Tregar guides readers through the CPAN module submission process and discusses module maintenance once the module has been contributed to the CPAN service. ¿Writing Perl Modules for CPAN¿ is an indispensable guide for anyone wishing to make the most of the CPAN service. Author Information Sam Tregar has been creating open source software for six years, four of which have been focused on coding in Perl. He is currently employed as a Perl programmer for About.com, where he spends his days designing and implementing content management systems. An active participant in the Perl development community, Sam is the author of a number of popular CPAN modules including HTML::Template, HTML::Pager, Inline::Guile, and Devel::Profiler. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from New York University. When not programming, Sam enjoys black-and-white photography, playing Go, reading, and maintaining the small private zoo curated by his wife.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sam Tregar has been creating open source software for six years, four of which have been focused on coding in Perl. He is employed as a Perl programmer for About.com, where he spends his days designing and implementing content management systems. An active participant in the Perl development community, Sam is the author of a number of popular CPAN modules including HTML::Template, HTML::Pager, Inline::Guile, and Devel::Profiler. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from New York University. When not programming, Sam enjoys black-and-white photography, playing Go, reading, and maintaining the small private zoo curated by his wife.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (August 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159059018X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590590188
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,271,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great whirlwind tour of Perl modules and CPAN, October 13, 2002

By 

Michael Schilli (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writing Perl Modules for CPAN (Paperback)

This charming book provides an extensive overview on pretty much everything you need to know to write a Perl module, prepare it for CPAN and submit it into the wild.

It's amazing how much this book covers: Not only does Sam Tregar show how object-oriented Perl modules are architected, how to write regression test suites, how to extend Perl modules with C code, but he gets also the community aspects right -- how does your module get really popular? You can tell that Sam is a successful Perl module author himself.

Now, on every single one of these topics one could have written another 300-page book, of course. But the charming aspect of the book is that, while it doesn't go into each and every detail, it provides an excellent overview to future module authors. The printing is quite anarchic, though, with low-budget drawings and some typos which could have been caught easily by a thorough proof-reader, but it's tolerable, it's like watching a low-budget film by a very talented young director.

If that's not enough, I found the last chapter of the book invaluable, covering the CGI::Application module, which enables authors to share popular CGI-flows (e.g. bulletin boards) on CPAN.

I can whole-heartedly recommend this book to every prospective CPAN author -- there's hardly any coverage of this topic anywhere in the Perl literature besides the somewhat scattered online documentation. Buy it today!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite Perl books, February 11, 2005

By 

Mark Leeds - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writing Perl Modules for CPAN (Paperback)

One thing that makes a great programming book for me is how enjoyable it is to read from start to finish, as a reference, or just fun reading, where I just flip open to any page and read whatever I find there. Sam Tregar's book fits all of the above. Some books make you say to yourself, 'it's important stuff I should know, but I'll take a look at it later' and they usually put you to sleep after a page or two. Not this one! I cannot wait to get back to reading it and re-reading and then downloading modules and their docs for more reading and then I can't wait to put it all to use. I was even driving with it in my hand this morning with my finger in the last chapter (CGI Application Modules for CPAN) hoping for some long red lights so I could read another paragraph or two. I highly recommend this book to all Perl programmers.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read for any Perl programmer, May 25, 2004

By 

Phil Whelan (Birmingham UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing Perl Modules for CPAN (Paperback)

I found the style of this book very readable and friendly, covering the main idea behind the book (writing CPAN Modules), as well as being informative about Perl best practices and an insight into some great CPAN Modules.