Programming Perl (Paperback)

~ (Author), Randal L Schwartz (Author), Randal L. Schwartz (Author)
Key Phrases: diagnostic messages, standard modules, perl functions, Alphabetical Order, Pert Functions, Pattern Matching (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The second edition of the Camel Book is more than 600 pages long and full of excellent instruction and sound advice. Topics include all the good stuff from the first edition plus Perl 5 features such as nested data structures (ever made a hash of arrays of hashes?), modules, and objects. From "Howdy World" to making your own modules, this book has it all.

Product Description

Coauthored by Larry Wall, the creator of Perl, this book is the authoritative guide to Perl version 5, the scripting utility now established as the programming tool of choice for the World Wide Web, UNIX system administration, and a vast range of other applications. Learn how to use this versatile cross-platform programming language to solve unique programming challenges. This heavily revised second edition of Programming Perl contains a full explanation of Perl version 5.003 features. It covers Perl language and syntax, functions, library modules, references, and object-oriented features. It also explores invocation options for Perl and the utilities that come with it, debugging, common mistakes, efficiency, programming style, distribution and installation of Perl, and much more. Reviewers have called this book splendid, definitive, and well worth the price.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 670 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 2 edition (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565921496
• ISBN-13: 978-1565921498
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (246 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #521,987 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

159 of 173 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From a Perl novice, September 29, 2000

By	C. D. MYERS (Fairfax, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Programming Perl (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

I grew up teething on the trusty C=64, then went on to Q-Basic,Fortran-77 (I'm a mechanical engineer by schooling), and eventuallydabbled quite a bit with ANSI C. Except for a quarter of Fortran incollege, I've always been self-taught for computers and programming.I thought that this book would be the place to start my 'career' inPerl. Since it is the 'hot new thing' (although not that new) and Iam interested in Linux and the Apache web server, learning Perl seemedto be the natural extension. And on almost every FAQ, web site, etcetera about Perl, all speak of 'THE CAMEL' as being the bible.

BOYWAS I WRONG! I am not NEARLY smart enough to learn Perl straightfrom the Camel's mouth. But that doesn't mean that this is a terriblebook by any means, not at all. But I quickly jumped back on line hereat Amazon and picked up 'the Llama', aka Learning Perl, 2d Edition.Here's my path to success, being that I wasn't smart enough to learnfrom this book by itself! hahaha...

(1) Read 'Learning Perl'straight through at a leisurely pace. Just get a feel for thelanguage and syntax. (2) Download and install Perl... (3) Read'Learning Perl' a second time, this time not continuing until yousuccessfully complete the exercises at the end of each chapter. (4)Read 'Programming Perl', and when you get to a part that you havetrouble with, refer back to the lessons and examples in theLlama.

This worked quite well for me, and using the Llama before ANDin conjunction with the Camel seemed to enhance the meaning for me ofboth. My newest endeavor is to work through 'CGI Programming withPerl', another O'Reilly animal book ('the Mouse'? ).

Overall, thisis what I would term a 'readable reference'. While it doesn't havethe tutorial structure of the Llama or other learner's books, it isn'tquite as sticky as reading a pure reference guide. It's a wellthought out book for those with a half-way solid grasp of Perl and areready to start tackling some intermediate to higher level programminggoals. END

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Believe the (Sp|C)urious Negative Reviews, January 10, 2002

By	Maurice Reeves "Libertarian" (Perkasie, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Programming Perl (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

If you're like me, and you're shopping for a book, you immediately start reading the negative reviews and work upwards. So I started reading the reviews and read through them all, bought the book despite the many negative, and frankly, snippish comments made by many reviewers and decided that I need to respond.

Many say that the examples are convoluted, or that he focuses on obscure language references. One says the book starts quickly with a discussion of the splice function. The first mention of splice is on page 355, which I certainly don't define as 'quickly'....

Others say that there are no examples, or they are not explained clearly, but there's a short sample program right on page 18, and then 4 pages are devoted to analyzing the program and how it works. Further review through the book shows many small examples, especially in the sections that outline the core functions of Perl, and the core modules of Perl.

Others come here and criticize Perl the language, and use this as a platform for their own advocacy of other languages. This is just silly. If you're interested in Perl, or you've been using Perl and you want to know more, buy this book. In the universe of computer programming, every language choice you make is controversial, and subject to debate, and just because some reviewers do not like Perl the language, it does not mitigate the quality of this book.

That all being said, and debunking the frankly lousy reviews, I'll caution that this is NOT for beginning programmers, or people with limited technical knowledge. O'Reilly knows this, and anyone who has read this book should know this too. There is a book called 'Beginning Perl', also from O'Reilly, and written by one of the other top minds in Perl. It is easy to follow, provides many concrete examples and is where a beginning programer should begin. If you have a technical background, you will probably be able to start with this book, though Learning Perl is still worth reading.

What this book provides is not only an exhaustive guide to the language of Perl, and it's abilities, but also insight into it's design, the decisions of the creator of the language (Larry Wall, the main author of the book created Perl), and the major philosophy behind Perl.

This is a valuable reference and worth having.

This is the book that I turn to when I have Perl questions.

And this book is worth every penny I spent to get it.

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Badly Organized, but a Great Reference, February 3, 2000

By	Dan Budowski (Israel) - See all my reviews

The book itself, used as a Reference and for mastering Perl, is a five star book. But there are a quite a few disadvantages:

1. The book is not intended to the ones who have no programming experience at all. The read should be at least an intermediate programmer, because the basic programming concepts of the language (Variables, Subs and etc..) are badly explained.

2. Because of Perl's C Like Syntax, it is recommended that the reader will know C, Awk, or Grep and Some experience in the Unix Environment.

3. The Book itself is badly organized, certain complicated things are shown in examples and explanations, and those things are taught many pages afterwards. For Example: An Example of a perl program is shown on page 10, and that example contains subs and pattern matching, which are taught 100 Pages later!

These are the 3 Main Disadvantages. For Conclusion, if you're new to programming, or want to learn Perl easliy, buy "Learning Perl", but if you're a somewhat experienced programmer, and want to master Perl, this book is the best one you'll find for that purpose.