Perl: The Programmer's Companion

 

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 005
EAN: 9780471975632
ISBN: 047197563X
Label: Wiley
Manufacturer: Wiley
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 292
Publication Date: 1997-09-25
Publisher: Wiley
Studio: Wiley

Perl 5 Programmer's Notebook
Effective Perl Programming: Writing Better Programs With Perl
Perl: The Programmer's Companion
Advanced Perl Programming
Perl for C Programmers
Programming Perl for the World Wide Web
Programming the Perl DBI
The Perl 5 Programmer's Reference
Win32 Perl Programming: The Standard Extensions
Professional Perl Programming

Perl is a powerful and flexible programming language. A programmer can easily put together short Perl programs to perform tasks that might otherwise require hours of development effort from a team of specialists—and its free! Perl is different in many ways from more conventional languages, and programmers who are used to Java, C or C++ can find its syntax and data types unusual. The Programmers Companion is intended to show such programmers the power of Perl and to introduce them to its unique features. Clearly flagged comparisons with other languages help relate Perls features to familiar territory. Written in a clear and approachable style, the authors account of Perl is informed by his extensive knowledge of other programming languages. The book includes:

• a description of new Perl5 language extensions and characteristics such as the object-oriented features
• live, up-and-running programming examples based on real Perl scripts
• an introduction to the use of modules which extend the power of Perl into many application areas
• using Perl on the Web
• pointers to Perl resources on the Web

The Programmers Companion is not exclusive to Unix users, but presents Perl as a language that can ease the programmers burden, no matter what system it is used on.This way, even at the beginning, you can get useful programs running rather than just printing "Hello world" various numbers of times … ??? The Programmers Companion fills the niche for a Perl language learning book aimed at the programmer who wants a solid book, to teach the language, which (1) doesnt hand-hold too much, and (2) covers most of the more advanced features of the language.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Not a useful reference book
Review: Not a good choice for a reference book. Would be useful only if interested in light reading about a subject that you are already familiar with. I would highly encourage any newbie or anyone wanting to get real work done to avoid this book.... your time and money (sorry I already spent mine) would best be spent elsewhere.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Useful code examples keep reader interested
Review: 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!

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Excellent for learning Perl if you are literate
Review: 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).<

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.

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.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Great book for experienced programmers learning Perl
Review: 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.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Fun read, useful reference
Review: Nigel Chapman has an awesome talent for conveying material clearly and concisely. In just 273 pages, you will learn all the basics and then some. Chapman copiously supplants his dictatorial, amusing content with practical examples. The tables dispersed throughout the book add to its value as a reference, and I've found them extremely useful on many occasions.

Be aware, however, that this book will confuse you in no time if you're not already familiar with another programming language. He doesn't start with the classic "Hello, world!" example but quickly jumps into regular expressions, and he doesn't go out of his way to explain concepts like arrays and objects before teaching their syntax. Chapman concludes with overviews of some useful modules and CGI programming (both sections are somewhat outdated by now, though).

My criticisms of this book are that its layout is somewhat primitive (this is not exactly a pretty book), and Chapman is afraid to venture too far into anything that's even slightly OS-dependent, like sockets and database programming (not included in his overview of modules). In my version, there also aren't any exercises at the end of the chapters.

Overall, however, this book is PERFECT for you if you're somewhat literate (in at least one programming language and in the English language) and would like to learn Perl as quickly as possible. Highly recommended. And unlike whatever reviewers have suggested, I think it makes a lovely reference, too.

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