Rating: 
Summary: A Must
Review: Just got the book and still in shock of it. I don't think I could ever found a better one that discusses Perl in a more thorough way. I'm an experienced Perl programmer and this is a great refernce and a good refresh book. Great examples and easy to follow explanations. As my title says... A Must
Rating:
Summary: The only Perl Book you need.
Review: My background I am an IT programmer, I starting learning/using Perl about six months ago. I have written many tools in Perl since then. I started out with the Perl Cookbook (O'Reilly) it a great book to learn Perl from but it is not inclusive. I needed to buy another Perl book to get more in-depth information so I went for the Perl Black Book. I just finished reading the entire book and I can say this book covers everything in great detail. Many modules are even covered. If you are only going to buy one Perl book I recommend the Perl Black Book. Its format is great for learning Perl and to use a reference.
Rating: 
Summary: A comprehensive reference -- not for beginners
Review: My experience with Perl is fairly limited. I'd written several CGI scripts with the help of Elizabeth Castro's Perl/CGI For The World Wide Web, but as my needs advanced, I soon found myself yearning for a more complete reference guide.This book proved to be just the reference that I needed. You don't want to purchase this book if you are just starting out with Perl. But it covers everything from basic programming concepts to regular expressions to advanced concepts in 1280 pages. It is the perfect reference guide for a semi-experienced Perl hacker like myself. The O'Reilly books aren't bad ("Mastering Regular Expressions" is a must-have), but I find myself reaching for the Black Book first whenever I have a question.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Perl Black book is best suited for all levels, from beginning to advanced. This is the book you want to have. It's much better than the "Perl Programming" and the "Learning Perl" because it covers all a serious programmer wants to know. Take Chapter8: Formats and String Handling, it's designed for intermediate level, after the first six chapters are for beginners. Very good book.
Rating:
Summary: Ideal Reference Material
Review: Perl Black Book is probably the best technical book I have ever read. This book will save you time through its organization, concise explanatory style, and content. The "Black Book" enables a programmer to quickly access information, especially keyword syntax. Each chapter begins with an overview of what will be covered including page numbers for "immediate solutions" to those problems you need a quick answer to. I don't know how many times I have spent more time than I would like sifting through pages of text looking for the correct syntax for the 'if' construct, or playing back-and-forth with the glossary trying to locate a specific function to manipulate a string. This book will help you find answers quickly. The book covers nearly every major aspect of beginning/intermediate level Perl programming in a consistent, fluent, and well-organized manner. Regular expressions, cgi programming w/ Perl, OO, and Perl/Tk are all covered. If you have an understanding of the basic elements of programming, this book serves as a valuable reference, and helps to further explain and clarify some of the more difficult aspects of the language without being too verbose. This book does not provide very many references to additional information, however.
Rating:
Summary: Ideal Reference Material
Review: Perl Black Book is probably the best technical book I have ever read. This book will save you time through its organization, concise explanatory style, and content. The "Black Book" enables a programmer to quickly access information, especially keyword syntax. Each chapter begins with an overview of what will be covered including page numbers for "immediate solutions" to those problems you need a quick answer to. I don't know how many times I have spent more time than I would like sifting through pages of text looking for the correct syntax for the 'if' construct, or playing back-and-forth with the glossary trying to locate a specific function to manipulate a string. This book will help you find answers quickly. The book covers nearly every major aspect of beginning/intermediate level Perl programming in a consistent, fluent, and well-organized manner. Regular expressions, cgi programming w/ Perl, OO, and Perl/Tk are all covered. If you have an understanding of the basic elements of programming, this book serves as a valuable reference, and helps to further explain and clarify some of the more difficult aspects of the language without being too verbose. This book does not provide very many references to additional information, however.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what is advertised
Review: Since my first edition O'Reilly "camel books" on Perl were a bit dated, I decided to take a chance on what *seemed* like a more comprehensive book on Perl. If you are buying this book based on the number of pages, expecting a ton of information and lots of code examples, save your money. The size is totaly deceptive. The book has large print, lots of whitespace and many repetitions used as filler. Of what little actual content there is, most of it is "chatty" and lacking substance. The disorganization of this book makes the Perl language structure and syntax seem elegant by comparison. The only thing good about buying this book was buying it from Amazon so I can leave this scathing review, hopefully saving some other poor sod from buying it. Get the O'Reilly Book, Programming Perl instead!
Rating:
Summary: great reference AND teaching
Review: started with elizibeth castro's CGI book, which was a very good start, but i needed the next level. this book has an amazing amount of info, and it suprised me with it's weight. my problem: it included while loops in the first chapter, which is bad for beginners. buy castro's book, understand it, then get this one. i understand everything the book says and am learning new perl quickly
Rating:
Summary: excellent book, terrible CD
Review: The book itself is excellent--the best intermediate-to-
advanced book on PERL. The problem is with the CD. It has the texts of two additional
chapters, but the CD uses graying to emphasize the relevant
text, and that graying makes it impossible for me to read the
grayed-out text either from the CD or when i print it. I called the support telephone number and told that it had been disconnected. I wrote an email and received no reply.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent book, useless CD
Review: The books is excellent. The CD has extensive unreadable (blacked-out). I have not been able to contact Coriolis through email, telephone, or their
web site. I would have the given the book a 5, but, because of the CD,
I give it 2.
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