Learning Perl on Win32 Systems

Perl for System Administrators

Perl Cookbook, Second Edition

Learning Perl Objects, References, and Modules

Perl Books

Win32 Perl Scripting: The Administrator's Handbook

Format: Paperback
Author: Dave Roth
ReleaseDate: 31 October, 2000
Publisher: Sams
Rating:

Hope for Perl UNIX Programmers on Windows
I've been writing Perl scripts on Solaris and Linux for some time, but had no idea where to start on Windows. Recently I was given the task of writing some Perl scripts to manipulate processes on a Windows server.

One of the scripts needed to find a process by name. If the process wasn't running the script needed to start a new instance and send out an e-mail to notify the support team. Using Roth's book I was up and running in a matter of hours. Prior to that I had spent days combing the Internet looking for tips on digging into the bowels of Windows (not a pleasant image) with Perl.

Roth gives you multiple ways to tackle a problem, but voices his opinion on why you might want to choose one method over another. However, at times he makes assumptions about your knowledge of Windows which can lead to frustration. His section on WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) is very brief for such a complex subject for example.

I wouldn't recommend this book for someone new to Perl, but if you are familiar with Perl and need to write scripts for Windows you will find Roth's book useful indeed.

Not worth it
I would not try this book at all. Looks like auther has copied and past some scripts from internet and published book. I had no chice but to give one star but it is not worth it. if u want to learn perl for windows search on internet you will get better information.

An Excellent Resource For Win32 Admins
The technical writing is excellent, and it is essential "fluff-less". If I could only have a 5 Perl books, this would be one of them. The examples are clear and of immediate practical value, many are based on modules authored by Dave and freely available. My personal favorite is the Win32::Daemon module for implementing Perl scripts as NT/2000 services. We can only hope that Dave will write another book expanding on ADSI and WMI.