Perl Core Language: Little Black Book

by Steven Holzner

Book Overview

This fully updated edition of the bestselling ""Perl Core Language Little Black Book"" is one of the most practical and concise guides available for Perl programmers. It includes hundreds of highly... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1576104265
• ISBN13: 9781576104262
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
• Length: 492 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The best way of learning Perls...

In a line, buy this book if you want to start programming in perlI started reading this book 5 days ago, and I already consider myself a perl programmer. I am a computer engineering student at Stevens Institute of Tech and my main focus of study is network security from a programmer standpoint. After a couple of days reading this book, I could already create simple client/server applications. In addition, I learned how to handle files in numerous ways, and how to work with their content "you will be amazed how easy this is done in Perl" and even formating text, creating DBM Database files etc. Object oriented programming is very well explained and finally CGI scrips are also very well presented "with lots of security warnings." I would give this book six stars if I could since it does its job VERY well! My extensive programming experienced really helped me in the reading process, but the language and examples are so clear that even newbies in programming could assimilate the content easily!!! You can contact me at rarmente@stevens-tech.edu if you have further questions.

PERL for programmers only

This is a combination of reference and learning. I would not advise this for a person trying to learn PERL as their first language, but if you already have a grasp of C++, Java, VB, Python or some other complex scripting language then this is ideal. So we do not have the first three chapters explaining what a program is. There is a useful rip-out card with most of the syntax. PERL is full of obscure symbols and patterns such as $_[0] or $] or even /^((\((\d{3}\))? ?\d{3}-\d{4},? *)+$/ (which locates a telephone number). The book explains them concisely and provides reference tables which are useful after you have mastered the fundamentals. If you want a more gentle entry then something like "PERL and CGI for the World Wide Web" by Castro will lead you in a more 'human' way. It's excellent, but after you have been through it it will be placed on the shelf - it's not a reference document. If you want lots of complex examples so you can play round with pre-existing code then look at "Mastering PERL 5".PCLLBB (plus the rip-out card) is the book I keep within arm's length. The blank pages at the back I have written in as a secondary index to the tables. Incidentally the index is good. The only problem (as with all indexes) is if you do not know what you are looking for. For example, to remove a line feed you use chomp() and you can look up truncate, line feed, substring etc and not find it. This is where you need your own index!

A huge and (almost) definitive resource for perl programming

I write a lot of code in perl. My primary workstation is a linux box. So while I also develop code in perl, I administer my system in perl. I have O'Reilly's entire bookshelf on Perl (except the Gecko [win32] book). This book is a welcome companion to them. It's written a little differently than youre used to if you have a steady diet of oreilly (as i do). I dont think its meant to be read straight-through as the oreilly books are. Rather this book provides a good reference. Sort of a phone book -- you wouldnt use it to find out how the phone works, but rather to look up a number. I bought this book in a larger set of perl books, and definitely recommend it.a final note to this: the description on how to program in CGI, while a little sparse, is easy to read, and made my first forays into CGI programming a breeze (reading perldoc CGI was an absolute bear!).

EXCELLENT reference and "refresher" book

I normally don't get much from books, due to their typical lack of practical examples, or any examples at all. This book is packed with examples. The explanations are also a superb compliment to these most excellent examples.I wouldn't NOT suggest this book to anyone who has never programmed before. This book is better suited for people with programming experience or intermediate Perl skills, but need a great reference and practical example book. This book is also great for those (like me) who, up until now, have only learned enough to get your projects done, and need to fill in those gaps. It's also great for refreshing your mind, when you haven't done something in a while.I can't stress the amount and quality of useful, practical examples in this book. If the explanations and descriptions aren't enough, the examples certainly are.Again, if you've never programmed before, this book is not for you. Coriolis puts out a much larger and elaborate book named "Perl Black Book" that would probably be better suited for you.If you're serious about your Perl, you MUST get this book.

Will Wonders Never Cease?

The first Perl book I've seen that is truely great for beginners, great for people who are already Perl programmers, has a lot of example code, is a great reference, has a good reference section, and also seems to not leave any important details/sections out. The fact that it is very well organized/divided is definately a plus! Any person who wishes to learn Perl or have a great reference, MUST have this on their bookshelf.