Perl 5 How-To: The Definitive Perl 5 Problem-Solver (Paperback)

~ Mike Glover (Author), Stephen Asbury (Author, Editor), Aidan Humphreys (Author), Ed Weiss (Author), Jason Mathews (Author), Selena Sol (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Nearly 200 solutions to Perl programming problems are included in "Perl 5 How-To". Multi-platform (UNIX, DOS) documentation and solutions are explored, and extensive CGI coverage is given. The CD-ROM includes Perl 5 source code, Perl extensions, binaries, scripts, and utilities--all ready to plug into the reader's own applications.

From the Publisher

Perl 5 How-To saves Perl programmers hours of programming time by providing solutions to over 200 Perl problems in easy-to-access, award-winning Q&A format. - Multi-platform (UNIX, DOS) documentation and solutions

- Over 200 practical solutions to Perl programming problems

- CD-ROM includes Perl source code, binaries, scripts, and utilities-all of which can be plugged into the readers own Perl programs

Product Details

• Paperback: 894 pages
• Publisher: Waite Group Pr; 2 edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571691189
• ISBN-13: 978-1571691187
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,242,730 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Frequent errors make it difficult to use, November 3, 1999

By	David Mertz ([e-mail]) (massachusetts, usa) - See all my reviews

I needed an intro to Perl, which also let me jump into examples. From the table-of-contents, this book seemed like it would be a good one. However, I found the first chapter so full of errors (especially in the code examples) that it was almost worthless for a Perl newbie like myself.

With Perl especially, it is difficult to know for certain whether a stray symbol in the code samples is a mistake or a subtle construct of Perl. This book's examples are cluttered with such odd mistakes, which really are generally mistakes.

Even worse, there is really inadequate discussion surrounding the code examples to tell exactly why they are presented. Sometimes new constructs actually are introduced in the examples, without explanation surrounding them (or even reference to the later sections where they will be fully explained... which would be fine too).

Very difficult for a beginner, and probably too simple for an expert.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The cd code examples are buggy, April 22, 1998

By A Customer

My first impression is that no one did any testing of the examples

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too proprietary, May 18, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

As you go through the book, more and more examples rely on the previously discussed code. That makes it unusable as a reference book.

My main complaint is that well over 1/3 of the book is devoted to HTML parsing and dynamic output, which is great. The problem is that the author wants you to use his HTML parsing engine for every 'How-to' recipe. So, if you don't want to use this particular parsing method, close to half of the book is useless. :(