Rating: 
Summary: An indespensible book for die-hard perl programmers
Review: If you are a programmer, with an extensive background in programming theory, and a passion for Perl, this book is for you. This book, written by the creator of Perl, contains more details about Perl than one could possibly find in any other book. This book doens't hold back in discussing perl topics, but rather it discusses them inside and out without excluding anything. For someone who has a thorough foundation in Perl, this is definitely the next step in exploring Perl.If you are a casual programmer though, I must caution you that this book is pretty intense reading. I found it helps to read this book while reading the "Perl Cookbook". The chapters for each book correlate to each other. This book explains how everything works, while the Cookbook shows you how to apply these concepts in real life situations. One complaint I had about this book were the unclear examples. Other books by O'Reilly such as "Learning Perl" and "Perl Cookbook" will label each line of code in their examples so that there is no ambiguity. However the example scripts in this book are sparsely labled, so it is not always clear what the author's intent is. However, if you feel up to the challenge, I would definitely recommend this book. After reading this book, your understanding of Perl will improve dramatically. In addition, the last few chapters will provide a very useful reference regarding Perl's many modules, functions and such. For serious programmers, you will thank yourself for buying this book.
Rating:
Summary: excellent !!!!!!!!!!
Review: I just get my hands on PERL a year ago by taking a training class by SUN (which is also super good!). I am using PERL for some admin works for SUN servers for both system and database. Then I bought this Camel book. I love it-- it is thorough, fun to read, and detailed. In my opinion, it is NOT just for expereinced programmers, since I am no programmer at all. It does take some patience to get the whole picture though. But Larry warned this on page.47 that if you want to get the whole picture first, you should read the book backward....
In summary, go get the book and you won't regret!
Rating:
Summary: A Ground Up Approach
Review: When I began reading this book I had intermediate skills in several high and low level languages, but absolutely no knowledge of Perl. IMHO when considering which book (or books) to purchase when learning a new language, you must consider how you want to learn that language. If you tend to get impatient and need to get coding right away, then this book probably isn't for you as it takes a ground up approach. As you would in a chemistry class, you'll start from an atomic level and work slowly up to useful, molecule-level code. The third edition is radically different than the second: and after browsing through several other introduction-to-Perl type books, this is by far my pick for the Perl newbie. The immense reference section will remain useful even after you move far beyond this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Perl reference
Review: Very thorough. Discusses all the features of Perl, including the philosophy that motivated developers of the language. Is quite easy to read, especially if you've had some exposure to programming languages. Excellent desk reference.
Rating:
Summary: Great Reference
Review: This book is an exceptional reference, with an easy to use index, and I find the function reference toward the back extremely useful when I need a quick refresh on proper syntac.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great book.
Review: In spite of my current affinity for ColdFusion, I must say that Perl was my first love. This book was one of the first REAL programming books I read. O'Reilly has a great fix on Perl, and spared no expense in developing its library of Perl resources. This book is a great Perl desk reference that will get you out of most Perl jams.
Rating:
Summary: Wish I could buy the third edition
Review: Well, what can I say that hasn't already been said about this book. Sure it is slightly convoluted in comparison to other programming classics (K&R, and know PERL is not a simpler language), but really it is the best book for helping gain the PERL mindset. I only own the second edition but I have worked with the 3rd edition while I was a TA in a CGI programming class. Basically after you have learned enough PERL to make it through Learning PERL then this book will answer all of your language questions.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for Beginers
Review: I found the book to all but useless, the index is terrible examples are limiting, and there is little expansion of key concepts. I found most of what I needed from searching perl websites.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book
Review: I have used this book to learn Perl, and I was very satisfied with it.
Although it may be that it describes things not it the shortest way possible, it is actually fun to read; and one recognizes that the Author loves and knows his language.
I had some programming background in C/C++/JAVA when I bought this book, and I _don't_ think it's a good book for beginners. (on the other hand, I don't think that PERL is a good language for someone who wants to learn programming :) )
All in all I have considered the money very well spent - if one wants to really _know_ PERL I think there's no way around this book.
Rating:
Summary: TERRIBLE BOOK
Review: I think the real reason Larry Wall wrote this book was just to brag about his baby creation. 80-90% of this book is just Larry going on and on about how Perl is the greatest language ever because it loosely models human languages. The real content of this book is so watered down it's as if O'Reilly told Wall, "Sorry, 200 pages is too short, try to go for 1000 so we can sell the book for [price] rather than $30." Larry should take a note from Dennis Ritchie(the creator of C) and his book "The C Programming Language". Ritchie DOESN'T go on and on about how he's the greatest genius in the world and how C is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Ritchie's book is 250 pages and documents EVERY TINY DETAIL of the C language. It takes Larry 1000 pages to do the same for Perl, a MUCH simpler language. That's just sad.
| 
