Programming Perl by Tom Christiansen

One Sentence Summary:

A comprehensive guide to the programming language Perl, covering its syntax, features, and applications.

Book Genre:

Computer Science/Programming

Main Topic of the Book:

This book serves as a comprehensive guide to the Perl programming language, including its syntax, features, and real-world applications.

Key Ideas:

• Understanding the basics of Perl syntax and data types
• Manipulating data structures and files in Perl
• Utilizing regular expressions for pattern matching and text processing
• Creating reusable and modular code with subroutines and modules
• Using Perl for systems administration and web development

Main Parts of the Book and a Short Summary:

• Part I: Introduction (Chapters 1-3) – Provides a brief history of Perl, its features and capabilities, and basic concepts of programming in Perl.
• Part II: Getting Started (Chapters 4-10) – Covers fundamental topics such as syntax, data types, control flow, and file handling.
• Part III: Pattern Matching (Chapters 11-19) – Explains the powerful regular expressions in Perl and how to use them for text processing and pattern matching.
• Part IV: Perl Modules (Chapters 20-26) – Covers the use of subroutines, modules, and object-oriented programming in Perl to create reusable and maintainable code.
• Part V: Perl and the Web (Chapters 27-30) – Discusses using Perl for web development, including generating HTML, CGI programming, and interacting with databases.
• Part VI: Perl and the Operating System (Chapters 31-34) – Explores using Perl for systems administration tasks, such as file manipulation and process control.

Key Takeaways:

• This book provides a comprehensive guide to the popular and versatile programming language Perl, covering its syntax, features, and applications.
• Readers will learn how to write efficient and maintainable code in Perl, as well as how to use it for web development, systems administration, and other real-world tasks.
• A strong emphasis is placed on practical examples and techniques, making this book useful for both novice and experienced programmers.

Author’s Background and Qualifications:

• Tom Christiansen is a renowned computer programmer and language designer, known for his contributions to Perl and other open-source projects.
• He has over 30 years of experience in software development and has authored several other books on programming languages and technologies, including “Perl Cookbook” and “Java Cookbook”.
• Christiansen is also a co-author of the official Perl documentation and has taught Perl and other programming languages at numerous conferences and workshops.

Target Audience:

• This book is aimed at both novice and experienced programmers who want to learn and master the Perl programming language.
• It assumes basic knowledge of programming concepts and is suitable for readers from a variety of backgrounds, including web development, systems administration, data analysis, and more.

Publisher and First Publication Date:

The book “Programming Perl” was published by O’Reilly Media in 1996, with the latest edition released in 2012.
O’Reilly Media is a leading publisher of technical books and online resources, focusing on emerging and innovative technologies.

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