Programming Perl: There's More Than One Way To Do It [Paperback]

I have used Perl for over 7 years and I am ordering my 3rd copy. I tend to have this book lying open under my keyboard and every now and then it also soaks up my coffee.

I learned Perl by looking at examples and reading using this book. If you read the book (and understand most) you are off to a good start.

I have seen several persons having difficulties accepting the way Perl works - therefore I would say that Perl has a high learning curve. I say this with a personal conflict because the simple jobs are so simple in Perl and the complex jobs can have so elegant solutions. But take care - in Perl the simple problems also have very complex solutions.

If you have done some C/C++ programming and some shell programming Perl should be no problem - but read the book anyway - there are some important issues that you need to learn. If you don't you will never fall in love.

The book has a practical approach to programming (I guess that's the essence of Larry) and therefore you will find an overview section, details section, and reference guide. The book also has some very honest sections like optimizing section and common 'goofs' section.

If you program in perl regularly, I am sure you already have this book (else how can you have survived?), so I don't need to write this review for you.

For those who have learned perl, but feel the need for a reference on it, this is that reference.

It is well written, and I read all 600-plus pages of it from cover to cover (though not at one sitting!). This was the first time I'd found this in a computing book, and I have to say the experience converted me both to Perl and to O'Reilly.

If you are REALLY serious about perl programming, there are two other good books that fill complimentary niches: "Perl Cookbook" (solutions to common tasks in Perl), and "Advanced Perl Programming". But before you buy them, you need this book in order to be able to understand them.

The book is also an excellent insight into the eclectic mind of the author.

If I were to have a gripe about this book, it's that it has really handy one-liners scattered all over the place, but they are not collated into an accessible list anywhere, so until you get to know the book like the back of your hand, you have to flip through it, saying "I *know* I saw a really elegant way of doing that in a footnote somewhere here...".

also, a quickref card, like that in "HTML: the definitive guide" would be really handy. But then, that's what the perl 5 pocket reference is for.