Higher-Order Perl: Transforming Programs with Programs

Perl Best Practices

Pro Perl Parsing (Pro)

Randal Schwartz's Perls of Wisdom

Perl Books

Pro Perl

Format: Paperback
Author: Peter Wainwright
ReleaseDate: 24 March, 2005
Publisher: Apress
Rating:

Did anyone proof this? Where are the errata?
Some examples:

1) There is a reference to "Appendix A" but there are no appendices in my copy. I'm only up to page 140 and there are numerous code errors.

2) p 139: he suggests that the expression "\[1, 2, 3]" will return an array reference, but this is actually returning a reference to a reference to an array, using 2 levels rather than 1 level of indirection. This wouldn't be crucial except that this is the section of the chapter/book in which he is specifically explaining references.

Further, while there is a link to submit errata, there is no link for a place to view/download them. Other reviewers have mentioned the frequency of this kind of error.

This book would be a very bad source for someone truly new to perl.
.

Refence Manual, Plus So Much More
Once a language relegated to scripting-use only, it has developed over the years into a full-featured language around which applications are being developed from. One of my arguments with Perl, which ironically is one of its strengths, is that it is such a powerful language there are perhaps thousands of things that you will never use, or not even know about that the language can do. For example, there are numerous front-end web applications that are built around Perl not to mention in my own line of work we use a number of Perl applications to process and manipulate incoming data. The little kid has finally grown up and matured!

In Pro Perl, the author takes you through an in-depth analysis of the Perl language from the beginning topics up to advanced topics (including a relatively new one for Perl, Object Oriented programming). Many Perl books have a habit of either showing you the basics, and leaving you yearning for more; or showing you advanced topics that you are left scratching your head wondering "How did they jump from A to Z with no in-between"? In Pro Perl the author has taken an approach of explaining the concepts and walking you through the introduction and leading you to the more advanced topics without breaking it into distinct pieces of beginning, novice, etc. The book can be considered more of a instructional reference manual more than a code-snippet type book, which many programming books are nowadays.

One of the benefits this book offers is that throughout the book there are multiple reference charts and tip sidebars that either give you information on a syntax or available options, or lead you on to find more information elsewhere. Personally, I find the reference charts valuable as the author does not leave you guessing what all the available options or for a particular command or syntax -- in essence, he is opening the door for you to explore further on your own by showing you other possible roads.

This is a great book for those comfortable with programming and new to Perl, or those who have used Perl in the past but perhaps wanted to see what else it could do for them. The only thing lacking from the book is an indexing system on the side. It would have been great if you could have just flipped the book open to the appropriate section when you are on those fast-fact-finding missions.
.

This has become one of my favorite references
The author does an excellent job of being detailed without being repetitive or writing at too basic a level. This is a very comprehensive book for those who want to learn the Perl language from the ground up. Intermediate users of Perl can find a lot here but even a novice will find sufficient explanation to allow them to learn the language from scratch. The book is well organized and starts with an introduction to Perl followed by how to acquire and install Perl. From there it goes right into the meat of the language with variables, operators, data types, interpolation, substitution, subroutines, regular expressions, working with files and directories, etc. Besides the language itself the author deals with some of the common administrative tasks like adding new modules and packages. The book ends with some advanced topics like embedding Perl and dealing with processes, signals and threads, and networking.

At 990 pages this is a massive book that is easy to follow and full of examples to show exactly how each concept should work. Pro Perl is highly recommended to everyone from the complete novice to advanced level Perl programmer and includes a lot of detail that I have spent hours on the Internet looking for before. .