Conclusion
April 26, 1999
For many people, the fun of driving a car is not the movement
of one's foot from gas pedal to brake pedal, or the method for
turning on the wipers or shifting into reverse. The fun of
driving, for most, is the travel -- going from one place to
another, the scenery, and of course the speed. Still, there is
a smaller hard-core segment of folks who are enamored
with shifting gears and how the brakes work.
Perl is quite the same -- Perl enthusiasts love getting their
hands covered with grease, but you can get from A to B with
Perl without needing to know how to rebuild its transmission!
This article has tried to survey a wide range of territory
towards this end. A web developer is primarily interested in
using Perl as a tool towards web-related goals. In doing so,
the web developer will need a basic understanding of the
principles of Perl programming, and that has been the focus
of much of this introductory piece.
Using Perl with CGI to create interactive and dynamic web pages
is the fun part of all this. But you can't cruise the
interstate after your first driver's ed lesson and, similarly,
we've only seen a glimmer of the fun Perl can offer on the web.
The stage has been set, though, and next time we can put this
Perl into drive, from validating form submissions to processing
database requests to shopping cart applications. Vroom.
Additional Reading -- Some Opinionated Thoughts
Despite the perilous pace of technology, there are still some
tasks better done with old fashioned printed books. Learning
Perl is one of them. Books are convenient to reference, are
well bound, and easy to carry from bedroom to, er, bathroom.
That said, if you ask a typical Perl purveyor what book to read
you'll undoubtedly be sent the way of "The Llama",
which is an affectionate moniker for "Learning Perl",
by Randal Schwartz and Tom Christiansen, one of the series of
O'Reilly and Associates books with strange animal prints on the
cover.
Allow me to dissent. Although "The Llama" is the
de facto recommendation among the Perl mongers,
it is not an ideal book with which to begin the Perl journey.
A reader who wishes to gain a solid understanding of
Perl, coming with little
to moderate programming and/or Unix experience,
one would assert that "Learning
Perl" further contributes to the intimidating and cliquish atmosphere
surrounding this powerful and useful language.
In fact, at the risk of eternal banishment from the Perl
Kingdom Hall and a spate of frighteningly obtuse flame-mails,
one would posit that a beginner to Perl would be better served
by -- yes -- "Perl 5 for Dummies", by Paul Hoffman.
Out on the limb this far, one would go even further to say that
the Dummies book presents a much clearer organization of Perl
information and explains the essential concepts with far more
clarity, and far less ego, than the exalted Llama.
In self-defense, it should be noted that the authors of
"Learning Perl", Mr. Schwartz and Mr. Christiansen
most certainly know their stuff -- they are true high priests
of Perl. Their writings provide great insight into the workings
of Perl and into its advanced usage, and are highly recommended
for those at such a level of interest. Simply put, though, a
newcomer to the language will gain a more useful understanding
from the clarity and structure of "Perl 5 for Dummies".
And it should be noted that there are no invested ties to either
of these opinions.
This is no indictment of all animal-print covers -- in fact,
one does recommend that any level of Perl programmer would
benefit from O'Reilly's "Perl in a Nutshell", by
Ellen Siever, Stephen Spainhour, and Nathan Patwardhan
(featuring a camel head cover). Although it contains little
instruction or narrative, this book is an excellent reference
resource summarizing all aspects of the Perl language, from
operators to functions to the many popular modules.
Resources
Downloads
Perl Program Flow: Conditionals and Loops
The Perl You Need to Know
The Perl You Need to Know, Part 2
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