Rating: 
Summary: If your looking for a helpful book -- skip this one
Review: I purchased this book amongst others to help me with learning and using perl. Any question I had to look up in this book, the answers were useless. There's sample code but generally little or no explanation of the code. The pieces of code I tried to copy into my scripts didn't work. I found a book CGI 101 much smaller but much more useful.
Rating: 
Summary: The best book I've ever seen!
Review: I recently bought this book and since then my knowledge of PERL has increased several times. Not only does this book go into detail about every single function in PERL (I think...at least the ones you would actually need in a lifetime) but it does it in a good way. On average, each function gets about a page or 2 (popular ones get a lot more). Compare that with other PERL books...1/2 a page. "Wow" was the first thing I said when I read it. It is also very organized. The author slowly takes you through the basics until you understand, and then he walks you through the more advanced stuff. A must-buy!
Rating:
Summary: A Working Man's Reference to Perl
Review: I seem to only be adding to the choir here in saying that
this is an excellent reference text for Perl programmers.
When I have to write anything in Perl this book
comes straight off the bookshelf in my office and
is on my computer desk by my side while I code.
Between this book and the perl references available
online (...), I don't
believe an experienced programmer would need anything
else to be fully capable of writing a Perl application
of any size or complexity. I have yet to find a task
that I needed to do in Perl that wasn't covered in
some detail in this book. All of the
explanations are quick, effective, and simple;
which is all you really care about when you're trying
to get the job done. I only wish that Holzner could have produced the same
level of quality for the Java 2 Black Book as he did
for this one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference at a great value
Review: I use perl quite constantly, for both CGI and for test automation at work. This book has basically everything one would need in any situation. The other day I was having problems with one of my search tools - so I went back to the section on regular expressions. FIXED. It dosen't take long for a real perl user to appreciate what this book has to offer in complexity. Although not exclusively a learning tool, the book is still complete enough to the point where everyone can still keep learning from it - even over a long period of time. The chapters are nicely organized with dark page-edge markers. I *really* wish more books adopted this. Don't waste your time buying more than one book if you already know your perl basics. Get the Perl Black Book, by itself. It's all you need.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book!
Review: I wish that all the other damn technical books I bought were this good. Teaches purely by practical example.
Rating:
Summary: Best Perl book ever!
Review: I've been programming in Perl for 6 years, and have used many different books as reference material. What makes this book stand out among the others is that it gives examples and very easy to understand explanations of virtually every language concept, usage and syntax. There is absolutely no fluff in this book; every page is valuable, both for beginning Perl programmers and for advanced ones, too. If you buy only one book on Perl programming, make it this one!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for reference and learning
Review: I've had several people ask me to recommend a book to get them started on Perl, and this is always the first one I suggest. It has great examples and while it may take you a few seconds to scan through the table of contents or index to find what you're looking for, it's certainly worth it, rather than having to scan several books to find what you're looking for. It probably isn't the best book for a person who has never programmed before, but if you at least know of basic programming concepts (when to use a loop, that variables are used to hold things, etc.) this book is an excellent resource. The book starts at the basics of installing, then advances through the obligatory "hello world" and text formatting to more complex things such as database calls, so it can be used by both a beginner and a more advanced programmer. The book is mostly examples, followed by explanation and preceeded with a "conversation" between the novice programmer and the programming guru. It highlights the "new" code, drawing attention to what it is you're learning for the section, and explains what it does. While I am prefer O'reilly books, I have found that The Perl Black Book has replaced my O'reilly Perl books and is the only Perl book I really use.
Rating:
Summary: A Huge Help to a Newbie
Review: I've read and used many of the popular books on Perl. While they're all informative, this one is the biggest help when I need to figure out how to do something specific. It's well written, well laid out, and also I enjoy the bit of humor at the beginning of each example. I am a newbie to Perl and JavaScript, with some experience coding in VB 3 (old days!), and an expert in Authorware (a multimedia development tool). So, while basic programming concepts and constructs are familiar, Perl at first seemed quite obtuse...I thought maybe I'd burned a few too many brain cells in life to comprehend it well enough to actually write scipts. This book, with its clear examples and explanations, has helped me overcome that hurdle and get the job done!
Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: If you are looking for a book filled with theories-this is not the book for you. This book is about solutions. It is filled if common programming problems - and provides you with GREAT quick and easy to use solutions. Highly recommended. Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works: How to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated
Rating:
Summary: #1 Perl Reference Guide
Review: Im into my 2nd year as a developer developing websites, and with every day I use more and more perl. Straight out for beginners this not for you! Start with Elizabeth Castro Perl and CGI for the world wide web (GREAT*) After you get your fingers into perl a bit, this is where the Black Book can help you out tremendously. Perl Black Book explains all the perl syntax in simple understandable terminology, and that is why I give it a 5. It has everything about perl, easy to run through the book and understandable. (as long as you have some knowledge of perl)
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