Programming Perl, 3rd Edition
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Perl is a powerful programming language that
has grown in popularity since it first appeared in 1988.
The first edition of this book, Programming Perl, hit
the shelves in 1990, and was quickly adopted as the
undisputed bible of the language. Since then, Perl
has grown with the times, and so has this book.
Programming Perl is not just a book about Perl. It is
also a unique introduction to the language and its culture,
as one might expect only from its authors. Larry Wall is
the inventor of Perl, and provides a unique perspective on
the evolution of Perl and its future direction. Tom
Christiansen was one of the first champions of the language,
and lives and breathes the complexities of Perl internals
as few other mortals do. Jon Orwant is the editor of
The Perl Journal, which has brought together the Perl
community as a common forum for new developments in Perl.
Any Perl book can show the syntax of Perl's functions, but only
this one is a comprehensive guide to all the nooks and crannies
of the language. Any Perl book can explain typeglobs,
pseudohashes, and closures, but only this one shows
how they really work. Any Perl book can say that my is faster
than local, but only this one explains why. Any Perl book
can have a title, but only this book is affectionately known by all
Perl programmers as "The Camel."
This third edition of Programming Perl has been expanded to
cover version 5.6 of this maturing language. New topics
include threading, the compiler, Unicode, and other
new features that have been added since the previous edition.
Table of Contents
Preface
PART 1: Overview
Chapter 1. An Overview of Perl
Getting Started
Natural and Artificial Languages
An Average Example
Filehandles
Operators
Control Structures
Regular Expressions
List Processing
What You Don't Know Won't Hurt You (Much)
PART 2: The Gory Details
Chapter 2. Bits and Pieces
Atoms
Molecules
Built-in Data Types
Variables
Names
Scalar Values
Context
List Values and Arrays
Hashes
Typeglobs and Filehandles
Input Operators
Chapter 3. Unary and Binary Operators
Terms and List Operators (Leftward)
The Arrow Operator
Autoincrement and Autodecrement
Exponentiation
Ideographic Unary Operators
Binding Operators
Multiplicative Operators
Additive Operators
Shift Operators
Named Unary and File Test Operators
Relational Operators
Equality Operators
Bitwise Operators
C-Style Logical (Short-Circuit) Operators
Range Operator
Conditional Operator
Assignment Operators
Comma Operators
List Operators (Rightward)
Logical and, or, not, and xor
C Operators Missing from Perl
Chapter 4. Statements and Declarations
Simple Statements
Compound Statements
if and unless Statements
Loop Statements
Bare Blocks
goto
Global Declarations
Scoped Declarations
Pragmas
Chapter 5. Pattern Matching
The Regular Expression Bestiary
Pattern-Matching Operators
Metacharacters and Metasymbols
Character Classes
Quantifiers
Positions
Capturing and Clustering
Alternation
Staying in Control
Fancy Patterns
Chapter 6. Subroutines
Syntax
Semantics
Passing References
Prototypes
Subroutine Attributes
Chapter 7. Formats
Format Variables
Footers
Chapter 8. References
What Is a Reference?
Creating References
Using Hard References
Symbolic References
Braces, Brackets, and Quoting
Chapter 9. Data Structures
Arrays of Arrays
Hashes of Arrays
Arrays of Hashes
Hashes of Hashes
Hashes of Functions
More Elaborate Records
Saving Data Structures
Chapter 10. Packages
Symbol Tables
Autoloading
Chapter 11. Modules
Using Modules
Creating Modules
Overriding Built-in Functions
Chapter 12. Objects
Brief Refresher on Object-Oriented Lingo
Perl's Object System
Method Invocation
Object Construction
Class Inheritance
Instance Destructors
Managing Instance Data
Managing Class Data
Summary
Chapter 13. Overloading
The overload Pragma
Overload Handlers
Overloadable Operators
The Copy Constructor (=)
When an Overload Handler Is Missing (nomethod and fallback)
Overloading Constants
Public Overload Functions
Inheritance and Overloading
Run-Time Overloading
Overloading Diagnostics
Chapter 14. Tied Variables
Tying Scalars
Tying Arrays
Tying Hashes
Tying Filehandles
A Subtle Untying Trap
Tie Modules on CPAN
PART 3: Perl as Technology
Chapter 15. Unicode
Building Character
Effects of Character Semantics
Caution, \[ren2bold] Working
Chapter 16. Interprocess Communication
Signals
Files
Pipes
System V IPC
Sockets
Chapter 17. Threads
The Process Model
The Thread Model
Chapter 18. Compiling
The Life Cycle of a Perl Program
Compiling Your Code
Executing Your Code
Compiler Backends
Code Generators
Code Development Tools
Avant-Garde Compiler, Retro Interpreter
Chapter 19. The Command-Line Interface
Command Processing
Environment Variables
Chapter 20. The Perl Debugger
Using the Debugger
Debugger Commands
Debugger Customization
Unattended Execution
Debugger Support
The Perl Profiler
Chapter 21. Internals and Externals
How Perl Works
Internal Data Types
Extending Perl (Using C from Perl)
Embedding Perl (Using Perl from C)
The Moral of the Story
PART 4: Perl as Culture
Chapter 22. CPAN
The CPAN modules Directory
Using CPAN Modules
Creating CPAN Modules
Chapter 23. Security
Handling Insecure Data
Handling Timing Glitches
Handling Insecure Code
Chapter 24. Common Practices
Common Goofs for Novices
Efficiency
Programming with Style
Fluent Perl
Program Generation
Chapter 25. Portable Perl
Newlines
Endianness and Number Width
Files and Filesystems
System Interaction
Interprocess Communication (IPC)
External Subroutines (XS)
Standard Modules
Dates and Times
Internationalization
Style
Chapter 26. Plain Old Documentation
Pod in a Nutshell
Pod Translators and Modules
Writing Your Own Pod Tools
Pod Pitfalls
Documenting Your Perl Programs
Chapter 27. Perl Culture
History Made Practical
Perl Poetry
PART 5: Reference Material
Chapter 28. Special Names
Special Names Grouped by Type
Special Variables in Alphabetical Order
Chapter 29. Functions
Perl Functions by Category
Perl Functions in Alphabetical Order
Chapter 30. The Standard Perl Library
Library Science
A Tour of the Perl Library
Chapter 31. Pragmatic Modules
use attributes
use autouse
use base
use blib
use bytes
use charnames
use constant
use diagnostics
use fields
use filetest
use integer
use less
use lib
use locale
use open
use overload
use re
use sigtrap
use strict
use subs
use vars
use warnings
Chapter 32. Standard Modules
Listings by Type
Benchmark
Carp
CGI
CGI::Carp
Class::Struct
Config
CPAN
Cwd
Data::Dumper
DB_File
Dumpvalue
English
Errno
Exporter
Fatal
Fcntl
File::Basename
File::Compare
File::Copy
File::Find
File::Glob
File::Spec
File::stat
File::Temp
FileHandle
Getopt::Long
Getopt::Std
IO::Socket
IPC::Open2
IPC::Open3
Math::BigInt
Math::Complex
Math::Trig
Net::hostent
POSIX
Safe
Socket
Symbol
Sys::Hostname
Sys::Syslog
Term::Cap
Text::Wrap
Time::Local
Time::localtime
User::grent
User::pwent
Chapter 33. Diagnostic Messages
Glossary
Index
Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews: 10 Average Customer Rating: Feb 19, 2002 David Young (dayoungxx@hotmail.com) from Western U.S.A.
The best for reference but look elsewhere to learn.
My first introduction to Perl was via the 2nd Edition of the "Camel" book. The 3rd Edition is a welcome improvement but the biggest problem remains. Namely, to make the writing more concise and efficient. There is far too much distracting verbiage cluttering up what very often could be a plain, simple and much more useful description or explanation.
I realize the intention is to make it seem more conversational and thereby reduce the anxiety of the reader trying to wade through the very powerful but also very cryptic and arcane language that is Perl. Unfortunately, too often the chatty presentation just adds to the confusion. In both the 2nd an 3rd Editions I find myself constantly muttering "Just say what you want to say, and leave the side comments for the appendix for crying out loud!" I get the very strong impression that the author is trying to entertain and gratify themselves at least as much as inform the reader.
Oh well. Vent done.
If you want the definitive, authoritative reference of Perl, this is it. You can't get much more authoritative than the language originator. Simply put, it's a "must have" for any serious Perl programmer. However, if your immediate needs are more instructional or "introductional", keep looking. There are much better books to accomplish that.
Dec 19, 2001 Ed MacDonald from Arlington, VA (United States)
The definitive Perl book
I don't understand the people who say get the Learning Perl book to learn Perl. I say buy this book and that's all you need. I bought both 3 years ago. I opened Learning Perl twice and never looked back. My copy of this book has frayed covers, faded ink, and missing pages. I use it all the time. Between this book, the documentation that comes with any Perl distribution, and the book "Mastering Regular Expressions", 95% of all my Perl questions are answered. For the other 4.99%, I use "Advanced Perl Programming" and usenet. For the last fraction of a percent, I beat my head of a wall (not recommended). In short, forget "Learning Perl" and buy this book... there is none better.
Aug 15, 2001 H. Wengatz from Germany
Excellent reference, a must have!
Anyone who knows Perl for a while, knows that the "Camel Book" is not for learning Perl. It's a *complete* reference. Since it is written by the inventors you won't come much nearer to the source of wisdom. (Except for writing them a mail). The tone is nice and easy, but the stuff isn't. It is mature programming and goes into detail. Thus it is a must have for everybody who really needs to *work* with perl and needs to look up things how they work. - If you have to learn perl, buy "Learning Perl" instead. Which is not a shame for this book. If you would include Learning Perl in this one, it would be much heavier and bulkier and more expensive. - Once you have learned Perl, you won't need any longer the "Learning Perl" part, which would be a waste to lift it every time and carry it with you. I find the split into two books much more handy and useful. Even if you would buy Learning Pearl first and decide then that you dislike Perl, you will have gained money from not having paid for the second part of the book. The split into two books (better three: get the Cookbook, if you want brilliant and useful and complete examples for common issues) is absolutely OK. Use every book for what it is intended and you'll be off fine. This book is the reference and it does an excellent job on that and thus it get's 5 stars from me.
Aug 3, 2001 Qin from Houston, TX
Not a good book for learning Perl
This book is a fine reference book, but definetely not a good book for learning Perl. The author explained Perl concepts in a very wordy and loose way. Some parts are difficult to follow, and some examples do not have comments and go to far beyond the points that the author wanted to make. It would have been a much better book if the author could make things a bit simpler and more practical.
Jul 8, 2001 A review from Dana Point, CA
Well written and complete
This book is very good for people with moderate to very good programming knowledge. This is not a weekend read. The book does go into depth of the subject matter, which makes the book worthwhile for professionals. An excelent companion to this book is the Perl Cookbook. Beginners may want to start with Learning Perl or the Perl Black Book.
Jun 24, 2001 suresh kumar from Silver Spring, MD
Not for the starters.
Though the author is the inventor, the book is not good as expected. I believe you shouldn't buy the books authored by the inventor himself, since he never presents in a clear way. He expects the reader to be genius like himself. So I strongly recommend not to buy this book.
Jun 23, 2001 A review from north of the equator
easy/fun/informative reading
Work your way through this book and become a very good Perl Programmer
May 29, 2001 Learner from Mars
A fun book......if you have the time
Undoubtedly, this book is by the inventor of this beautiful language and it convered every aspect of the language. However, the book is written in a very wordy and slow fashion. Thus, it is a fun book to kill your time. But if you are in a rush, Two other perl books by O'Reilly, Learning Perl and Advanced Perl programming would be much better.
Oct 25, 2000 Sean Quinlan
Fantastic! A vast improvement over the 2nd edition
A thorough and well presented resource. Easy to find answers to your questions, well indexed, and a fun read besides.
Jul 31, 2000 Mike Roberto from Cleveland, OH
A Must-Have for Perl programmers
After getting a firm foundation with perl, this is the book that a programmer MUST have sitting around for a strong reference. New readers can't jump into it, but after reading Learning Perl and playing with perl for a while, this book is important to have. Larry Wall is the editor of it as well, which is a quality assurance in itself (Larry Wall is the man behind perl, who started it all)
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