Perl: The Programmer's Companion

by Nigel Chapman

Designed as an introduction to Perl 5 and aimed at programmers with a fair level of competence and experience in other languages. The author attempts to give a realistic appraisal of the language's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 047197563X
• ISBN13: 9780471975632
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Useful code examples keep reader interested

Easy to read, with many useful code examples in every chapter which I could use immedialtely in my work. I liked it a lot, and since I have plenty of *real* exercises from my job, I didn't miss the lack of contrived exercises at all!

Excellent for learning Perl if you are literate

One of the other reviewers (who gave the book only 2 stars) complained: >The wording was difficult to interpret. It seemed as if it was written for someone in their fourth year of college at Harvard University (which sort of an exagerration, but it did seem like that at times).<<p>The reviewer may not realize that the author is British. The British generally seem to be more articulate than Americans, so the language reflects that difference.<p>That aside, this book is a good choice for new Perl programmers, in that it is less "techie", although it still has some real substance to it.

Great book for experienced programmers learning Perl

Perl The Programmer's Companion is a great book for experienced programmers who want to learn Perl. While the camel book is the "must-have" reference, it really doesn't teach Perl programming. Chapman explains how to use Perl effectively, along with the language's subtleties and nuances. He also devotes some effort in describing good Perl programming style.

Let's this talented teacher guide you through Perl's jungle

When I bought "Perl: The Programmer's Companion", I had a number of others books on Perl already, among which the well-known "Camel book" ("Programming Perl" by Larry Wall et al.). None of those books satisfied me: they were written by people more good at writing smart programs than understandable manuals. "Perl: The Programmer's Companion" belongs to an higher class: the class of book written by talented, professional teachers. In this book, every single feature of Perl is clearly explained in detail. You can find simple, clear, meaningful and reusable examples of every element of the language. The book is clearly structured and it is easy to find what you need.The author demonstrates a clear understanding of the human learning process, besides a clear dominance of the Perl language. You can follow him trustfully and relaxed: he will tell you what you need to know, without overloading and confusing you with irrelevant details.If you are looking for your first (and last) book on Perl, this is the best you can find on the market.

Worthy of any accomplished Perl hacker

Going beyond the mere discussion of how things work, this book delves into how to make things actually work in a useful way. The writing is excellent, and it's actually laugh-out-loud funny in places.