| Perl is a general-purpose programming language. The answer to the question "Can I do this in Perl?" is very probably "yes". It's often used for little system administration tasks and for CGI and other web stuff, but that's not the whole story.—Ten Perl Myths |
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- What is Perl?
- Perl.com is the official site.
- Free Perl Power Image—
Perl as a Natural Language
Perl works the way you do. One of the Perl mottos is "There's more than one way to do it". People approach tasks in very different ways, and sometimes come out with very different solutions to the same problem. Perl is accommodating—it doesn't force any particular style on you, (unless you ask it to) and it allows you to express your programming intentions in a way that reflects how you as a person think about programming.—Ten Perl Myths
The parallels between Perl and a natural language like English are striking. Larry Wall, the father of Perl, has extensive scholastic training as a linguist. Larry applied his linguistic knowledge to the creation of Perl, and thus, to the new student of Perl, a digression into these language parallels will give the student insight into the fundamentals of Perl.—Perl as a Natural Language
You learn a natural language once and use it many times. The lesson for a language designer is that a language should be optimized for expressive power rather than for ease of learning. It's easy to learn to drive a golf cart, but it's hard to express yourself in one.—Natural Language Principles in Perl
Natural language has words of various sorts: nouns and verbs and such. If someone says "dog" in isolation, you think of it as a noun, but you can also use the word in other ways. That is, a noun can function as a verb, an adjective, or an adverb when the context demands it...Perl also evaluates words differently in various contexts.—Natural and Artificial Languages
Perl is regarded by both its proponents and detractors as something of a grab bag of features and syntax. The difference between the two camps lies in whether this is seen as a virtue or a vice. Perl votaries maintain that this varied heritage is what makes the language so useful. Reference is often made to natural languages such as English and to evolution.—Wikipedia:Perl
One thing I've come to realize...is that perl is unique among the languages that I know. Perl is the only computer language I know of that is so complete as a language. Like a spoken language, perl is highly context-sensitive and one idea can take many different forms. It's deterministic and precise, of course, but it has a much more natural feel...Perl uses lots of implications and context, like a spoken language does. It's really a marvel in some ways, because it's a group of people agreeing on a real language, rather than simply a set of commands...Perl is unique because it's actually a full language that allows very imaginative expression, much like english...I don't know how all this relates to the cost-effectiveness of programmer time, but it's interesting, that's for sure.—Exegesis 7 Released
Install
- mod_perl
- Embeds a Perl interpreter into the Apache HTTP server.
- ActivePerl
- ActiveState Perl for Linux, Solaris, and Windows.
- IndigoPerl
- Apache, Perl and PHP for Windows.
- XAMPP
- Apache with MySQL, Perl and PHP for Linux, Solaris, OSX and Windows.
Edit
- Open Perl IDE
- Integrated development environment with any standard distribution under Windows.
- EPIC
- Open source IDE based on the Eclipse platform.
- Komodo
- Edit vs. IDE
- Search web for
- perl ide or perl editor
Learn
- Tinkering With Perl: A Child's Guide
- Beginning Perl
- Picking Up Perl
- Programming:Perl
- beginners@perl.org
- Perlmonks
Docs
- perldoc
- The Perl Reference Guide PDF
- learn.perl.org
- Perl.com Article Archive
- The Perl Directory at Perl.org
- Perl Columns by Randal
QuickRef
- Perl Quick Reference Card
- Perl Regular Expression Quick Reference Card—Truskett
- Perl Regular Expression Quick Reference Card—Jenkins
- Perl Testing Reference Card
- Perl Debugger Quick Reference
- Perl Win32 Quick Reference Card
Extend
CPAN is an acronym for Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, a large archive of software written in Perl, including thousands of useful modules that can save a programmer weeks of effort. FAQ
» FEED — SITE
Secure
- Of the LAMP stack, Perl has the best defect density,
- well passed standard deviation and better than the average.
- perldoc perlsec Perl security
- The World Wide Web Security FAQ
- CGI Programming with Perl: Chapter 8 Security
- Security Issues in Perl Scripts
- Perl Security and Regular Expressions
- Perl Security Tips
Speed
mod_perl embeds Perl in the Apache web serverfor complete access to the Apache C API in Perl!
- Practical mod_perl
- mod_perl Developer's Cookbook
- Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C
- Scripting your Apache server with Perl
- Real World Performance Tuning for mod_perl
- mod_perl Performance Tuning
- Perl Server-Side Includes
- Embedding Perl in HTML with Mason
- PLP embeds Perl in HTML documents
- Embperl framework for building websites
- ModPerl Mailing List Archive
Also see FastCGI, SpeedyCGI, Apache::SSI, Hello World! benchmarks.
Enjoy
- Perl Freshmeat
- The Perl Archive
- The CGI Resource Index: Programs and Scripts: Perl
- The nms Project Free web programs written by experts.
Culture
- The Timeline of Perl and its Culture
- Perlmonks is a cool Internet hangout for Perl gurus and semi-advanced users.
- Perl Mongers is a loose association of international Perl User Groups.
- use Perl community news and discussion site.
- Perlcast—Podcasting Perl.
» FEED — SITE
Local
- IRC Bots