Perl 5 Complete

Rating:
Summary: Good Reference Book But Error Prone Examples
Review: I am currently using "Perl 5 Complete" as a first exposure to Perl. The problem I have with recommending the book is that many examples that I work with do not run because of typos. What makes matters worse is that there does not seem to be any way of obtaining an errata sheet! I have contacted both the authors and the publishing company to no avail. Who takes responsibility?

Rating:
Summary: Learning from the errors- would like error free edition
Review: I am learning Perl and I wanted the book by Sol but you can't get it anymore. I got this book and about 4 others to help me..this one gave me answers that I could not find in other books. This book is full of typo errors - just full but they catch you and make you cross reference with other information..which really helped me..good book but would have liked it without all the errors. But I must be learning something or some of the errors would have slid by me..the first comments on this book were right none the money...and it is still a good book but should be sold at a discount and a rewrite should be done. Would recomend it even with the typos but you better have other books to reference for help.

Rating:
Summary: Where is my errata sheet?
Review: I feel very strongly that the publishers of this book should provide an errata sheet as the sheer quantity of errors completely spoils an otherwise excellent book. This was the first book I bought on Perl and it had me very confused, though as other reviewers have noted figuring out the errors for myself probably improved my understanding. To McGraw-Hill - can I have a discount on the next edition?

Rating:
Summary: If you've struggled with regular expressions read chapt 9
Review: I have not 'read' the entire book. I bought it because it contained a chapter on perl/Tk for which there aren't too many text on this topic. But then I saw chapter 9 on regular expressions, another topic covered in only one other book that I know of. This book has given me the best understanding of regular expressions that I have ever read. I would have bought the book for this chapter alone. Now I can read that other book on regular expressions. I've browsed the other chapters particularly 22 and 23 and they appear to be written with the same clarity and exposition as the one on regular expressions. I could go on but I won't. Get it!

Rating:
Summary: Revised opinion!
Review: I have read through a good portion of the book - however, I am not new to Perl. This book is riddled with errors. For instance, take a look at the function simple_recursion on page 151. This is an infinite loop! On page 216, the author talks about dereferencing complex data structures and describes (very poorly, I might add) - three rules, numbered 1,2 and 3. And then he refers to the nonexistent rules No.4 and No. 2b on page 218! These are just a couple of instances that I have mentioned here. Virtually every page has such errors that it really takes the joy out of learning new concepts. If you are new to perl, stay away from this book. Pick a copy of the Llama book, or better yet, buy the PERL CD bookshelf. Read the Llama book first, cover to cover. I am giving this two stars - because there is some good in it if you read it in conjunction with the Perl CD bookshelf. I really think that McGraw Hill should give the (corrected) second edition free to those who unwittingly bought a copy of the first edition.

Rating:
Summary: Errors take the joy out of learning
Review: I have read through a good portion of the book - however, I am not new to Perl. This book is riddled with errors. For instance, take a look at the function simple_recursion on page 151. This is an infinite loop! On page 216, the author talks about dereferencing complex data structures and describes (very poorly, I might add) - three rules, numbered 1,2 and 3. And then he refers to the nonexistent rules No.4 and No. 2b on page 218! These are just a couple of instances that I have mentioned here. Virtually every page has such errors that it really takes the joy out of learning new concepts. If you are new to perl, stay away from this book. Pick a copy of the Llama book, or better yet, buy the PERL CD bookshelf. Read the Llama book first, cover to cover. I am giving this two stars - because there is some good in it if you read it in conjunction with the Perl CD bookshelf. I really think that McGraw Hill should give the (corrected) second edition free to those who unwittingly bought a copy of the first edition.

Rating:
Summary: Great, Clear Book
Review: I have the Llama book, the Camel book, and even the Panther book, and couldn't find information that I needed in any of these at times. I bought this book, and within 4 hours of receiving it, using the index, had all the questions that I had stockpiled answered in a clear, easy to understand manner, with excellent code snippets to boot. Well worth the price, and definitely now on my "primary" reference book shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Great, Clear Book
Review: I own the Llama book, the Camel book, and even the Panther book, and couldn't find all the information I was looking for in these. I ordered this book, and four hours after receiving it, had clear, concise answers to all the questions that I had stockpiled. Found what I was looking for easily in the index, went to the appropriate pages, and not only received an excellent explanation, but sample code to demonstrate the idea as well. This one is definitely going on my primary reference bookself!

Rating:
Summary: I found poor topic discussions and a terrible index.
Review: I purchased the book as a reference guide on how to's. There were some good examples on email and ole. But the overall discussions were terrible. And the index was lame. I don't recommend buying the book.

Rating:
Summary: A little rough for beginners, but worth the effort
Review: I'm an experienced programmer, but a Perl beginner. I had to borrow Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days to get started, but once I got going, this book is the best. Also, the author has been most appreciative when I've e-mailed him about the typos.