Beginning Perl, Second Edition

Perl Cookbook, Second Edition

Perl Best Practices

Advanced Perl Programming

Perl Books

Perl Core Language Little Black Book, Second Edition

Format: Paperback
Author: Steven Holzner
ReleaseDate: 17 September, 2004
Publisher: Paraglyph Press
Rating:

Great Perl Book
It doesn't try to teach the reader perl, which after you already know it is really nice. This is a great reference book for perl. This is more like a collection of all the perlmod/man pages put together in an organized manner. I reference this book all the time for different syntax structures and many other reasons.

Great learning tool
Intermediate users will find the book excellent. You can't go wrong with this book, even if you're a Perl beginner. Perl is a superb language.

I've been impressed with the "little black book" series from Paraglyph Press. These books get straight to the point with lots of examples and very little fluff. Perl Core Language follows this path. Its size and content is perfect for intermediate programmers. I like the way Holzner deliberately avoids a Unix bias. Perl is more than that. You won't find details on installing Perl onto any particular computing platform.

Programming beginners might need more expansive explanations--for example pg. 83 has a table of precedence for operators and they're listed tersely, without name definitions. That kind of focus is refreshing. A smaller, well-thumbed book is more valuable than a huge tome you never haul out.

I could have benefitted from additional background in Perl's underpinnings. I'll be buying other Perl books 'cause this one made me a fan.

Solid Perl learning and reference book
The only reason why it isn't "Beginner" is that the book goes straight to the point. This book is targetted at "Intermediate to Advanced", though I think it's more intermediate than advanced. There is no auxilliary or "good to know" discussions. This book presents Perl, how it is used, and that is the end of it.

I read the book almost cover to cover the first time, and it organizes information in a logical manner, and all basic Perl goodnesses are covered. Each section is divided into "In brief" - a summary listing of everything covered there - and "Immediate solutions" that get you started and finished in next to no time.

Now I keep it around as my primary Perl reference book. The index is extremely well done, and I haven't needed to go beyond it much at all.

There are just a couple of issues with this book:
- there are a few minor typos (I've found 2) that may stump a new Perl user
- list v array, and qq v quotes are never really explained.

The book isn't oversized, so it's also portable. Highly recommended.