Learning Perl

microsoft/linux · 10-26-2005, 11:43 PM

I'd like to learn Perl. I've googled around a little bit. What book would you suggest to start with? I'm leaning towards "Learning Perl" published by oreilly. My resources are low, so I'll probably purchase it off of amazon. Is there a major difference between the 3rd edition and the 4th edition? Other suggestions?

paulsm4 · 10-26-2005, 11:58 PM

I actually own (a very dog-eared copy ;-)!) of the *second* edition ... and I still find myself referring to it frequestly.

No, Perl is very much *UNLIKE* your typical Microsoft API, where everything-you-learn-today is totally obsolete tomorrow. What was valid in earlier versions of Perl remain, more or less, equally valid in more recent versions.

I think you'd be quite safe buying whichever edition best fits your budget.

Here's a quote from the O'Reilly page (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/learnperl4/reviews.html):

Quote:

"Learning Perl is generally in the top three recommended books for new Perl programmers, next to Programming Perl ("The Camel Book"). Now in its fourth edition, Learning Perl returns with updates covering the stable 5.8 series of Perl. The changes are subtle, but the improvements make for a clearer and more readable book...The book is chock-full of useful information, and even experienced Perl coders would do well to at least leaf through the pages of this book for paradigms to help their coding. Absolute beginner programmers would likely find this text a little over their heads, but intermediate programmers will find Learning Perl a valuable resource in their road to proficiency with Perl."
--Craig Maloney, Slashdot, July 2005

Based on that quote, it does *not* sound like there's a huge difference between the 3rd edition and the 4th edition.

I say - go for it!

microsoft/linux · 10-27-2005, 07:50 AM

So then, thre versions are most likely just revisions to account for new stuff, but anything in the old versions is still valid(most likely)? That simplifies things. Thank you. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

alagenchev · 10-27-2005, 02:13 PM

Go with learning Perl from O'Reilly, it is pretty good. I know there are some pretty good ebooks available on limewire, but I believe it is illegal to download them, and you may like to have a paper copy.

microsoft/linux · 10-27-2005, 04:55 PM

I just noticed some stuff on learnperl.org(or something similar, can't remember exactly). I believe they were free to download, but you're right, I would like a paper copy. Other suggestions?

alagenchev · 10-27-2005, 06:14 PM

I think your best bet for a cheap paper copy would be either half-priced-books or one of the online stores like half.com or amazon. I have personally used O'Reilly's Learning Perl and Programming Perl. I also know of "Programming the Perl DBI", which is good if you are going to try to use Perl to connect to a database. I have also used the Perl Cookbook, which I believe is O'Reilly, but don't quote me on that. Cookbook is good for practical solutions. That's pretty much all you are ever going to need. I am sure that you can also check the tutorials on http://www.cpan.org/. That website also has amazing perl modules, which you can download and use in your programs. Some of them are for using SSH, SFTP and some other stuff. http://www.activestate.com/ is also great website for programmers. You can even download the perl interpreter for windows there. I think that's all I can think of.

Good Luck

realmerlyn · 10-28-2005, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by microsoft/linux
I'd like to learn Perl. I've googled around a little bit. What book would you suggest to start with? I'm leaning towards "Learning Perl" published by oreilly. My resources are low, so I'll probably purchase it off of amazon. Is there a major difference between the 3rd edition and the 4th edition? Other suggestions?

The 3rd edition was a complete rewrite from the 2nd edition, reflecting a number of years of updating our training course from which the book is derived.

The 4th edition was a minor rewrite, mostly to incorporate errata, and also acknowledge the intermediate training book, "Learning Perl Objects References and Modules" (aka the Alpaca), so that people are aware that there's a way to continue their self-guided education.

If you can find a 3rd edition, that should be satisfactory, but please beg-borrow-or-steal the Alpaca as well. Objects and References are important, but too much to cover in the first week of training.