The Bottom Line
O'Reilly's Learning Perl is a perfect tool for anyone getting started with Perl. It's a quick and easy read that will fill you with knowledge of the basics and make you hungry for more detailed study in the advanced topics. Somehow, Randal L. Schwartz manages to cram something from almost every aspect of Perl programming into this relatively tiny book.
Pros
- A must have book for any budding Perl programmer.
- Touches on a huge variety of subjects.
- Interactive exercises make it more like a virtual classroom.
Cons
- The language can sometimes be a bit dry and pedantic.
Description
- Title: Learning Perl by Randal L. Schwartz
- Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc
- Published Date: Aug 30, 2005
Guide Review - Learning Perl by Randal L. Schwartz
This is an absolute must-have for any beginning Perl programmer who is serious about picking up this versatile programming language. This book got me started many, many years ago, and it's still immensely useful to me today as a refresher and reference tool. The author, Randal L. Schwartz, is both Perl guru and an excellent teacher. The language and style of the book is perhaps a little dry and pedantic in places, but it is easily grasped and even humorous once you get in the swing of things.
From the absolute basics, to filehandles, regular expressions and even CGI, Learning Perl touches on almost every major subject. It even discusses Perl formats (a report writing template) in almost too much detail. I would have enjoyed a bit more focus on the database access and web protocols, but taken as a whole it does a fantastic job of feeding you just enough about each subject to keep you coming back for more.