Description:
Perl is widely available across the various platforms that drive the Web, yet many developers overlook this powerful programming language. Even those coders who have some experience with Perl might not realize the language's full capabilities. In Perl Developer's Guide, authors Ed Peschko and Michele DeWolfe expand their readers' knowledge of Perl to leverage fully the powerful tool. This title follows a rather traditional path in presenting the programming language. It begins with an overview and proceeds through the mechanical constructs of Perl: variables, expressions, data structures, and functions. The coverage is quite good, but this systematic approach and rather small type demand a dedicated reader. Those who hang in there, however, will come away with a well-rounded command of Perl. A good amount of the text is devoted to the use of object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques as they apply to Perl. To illustrate OOP concepts, the authors take the reader through the construction of a board game called Stratagem and show how to convert procedural code into object-oriented code by using telnet and FTP scripts. If you're looking to explore fully the capabilities of Perl up to version 5.6, this book holds the key. A bit of patience and genuine curiosity on the reader's part are the only prerequisites. --Stephen W. Plain Topics covered: Perl 5.6 environment setup, variables, control structures, functions and scope, contexts, references, object-oriented programming, libraries and modules, abstraction and modular programming, converting procedural code, Perl development environment, and debugging tips.
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