Home - Introductory & Beginning
Learning Perl, 5th Edition
Price: $39.99
& 2-Day * Free Nationwide Shipping! (* details)
Availability: Usually ship in 24 hours if sold by Amazon.com
Product Details
| Binding: | Paperback |
|---|---|
| EAN: | 9780596520106 |
| Label: | O'Reilly Media |
| Feature: | |
| Publisher: | O'Reilly Media |
| Studio: | O'Reilly Media |
Editorial Reviews
Learning Perl, popularly known as "the Llama," is the book most programmers rely on to get started with Perl. The bestselling Perl tutorial since it was first published in 1993, this new fifth edition covers recent changes to the language up to Perl 5.10.
This book reflects the combined experience of its authors, who have taught Perl at Stonehenge Consulting since 1991. Years of classroom testing and experience helped shape the book's pace and scope, and this edition is packed with exercises that let you practice the concepts while you follow the text. Topics include:
- Perl data & variable types
- Subroutines
- File operations
- Regular expressions
- String manipulation
- Lists & sorting
- Process management
- Smart matching
- Using third party modules
Perl is the language for people who want to get work done. Originally targeted to sysadmins for heavy-duty text processing, Perl is now a full-featured programming language suitable for almost any task on almost any platform-from short fixes on the command line to web applications, bioinformatics, finance, and much more. Other books may teach you to program in Perl, but this book will turn you into a Perl programmer.
Customer Reviews
Benjamin G. Selfridg @ 2009-08-05 Start from the beginning and read every word
There could not ever be a better book for learning the Perl programming language than this one. The clarity of thought is unbelievable - the authors manage to provide a huge amount of detail while never going off on a tangent about exceptions to rules (something Perl, like English, is abundant with). If you want to get the basics of Perl under your fingertips in a *very* short amount of time, this is the book for you.
Let's face it - Perl can be a mess sometimes, and if you don't learn it from just the right angle, you'll find yourself knee-deep in a swamp. By choosing this book to learn from I effectively avoided all those pitfalls, and more importantly, adopted a clear way of using the language that has enabled me to write sophisticated, readable, even beautiful Perl code.
After some experience with the language I find it incredibly enjoyable to use, and when Perl is written well, it's easy to read someone else's code (to all you naysayers - yeah, Perl LETS you write bad code, but you don't have to!). This book was key to getting off on the right foot. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has any interest whatsoever in the language. Even if you only plan to write Perl for your own purposes, recreational or otherwise, this is the perfect beginner's tool. Buy it.
Let's face it - Perl can be a mess sometimes, and if you don't learn it from just the right angle, you'll find yourself knee-deep in a swamp. By choosing this book to learn from I effectively avoided all those pitfalls, and more importantly, adopted a clear way of using the language that has enabled me to write sophisticated, readable, even beautiful Perl code.
After some experience with the language I find it incredibly enjoyable to use, and when Perl is written well, it's easy to read someone else's code (to all you naysayers - yeah, Perl LETS you write bad code, but you don't have to!). This book was key to getting off on the right foot. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has any interest whatsoever in the language. Even if you only plan to write Perl for your own purposes, recreational or otherwise, this is the perfect beginner's tool. Buy it.
The Language Techie @ 2009-01-11 Good book but could be excellent
I have already programmed Perl for years, but decided to spend a few days' free time re-reading the latest (5th) edition. I had previously learned Perl by reading the 1st or 2nd edition. This time around, I learned a few things that I neglected before. That is the good part.
I enjoy the humor of the authors (in the same vein as Larry's Programming Perl). Humor makes the learning more pleasant. However, the incessant reference of the Flintstone is unbearable for a non-fan.
I wish that the book were less wordy so that it can cover more in 300 pages, and that it would cover such fundamental concept as Unicode (good support since 5.8, while this book covers 5.10) in this day and age of globalized software/Internet environment.
I also wish the book would give Win32 a bit more weight and be less Unix-centric.
My opinion of the book may not reflect that of a total beginner, but if I put myself in the shoe of someone new to Perl but with a little bit of programming experience, I'd rate the Llama book to be a rather good one. At least, the writing and the English is good, which cannot be said of most technical programming books of today. Overall, I would definitely recommend it to anybody new to Perl (but not to programming) as the first book.
I enjoy the humor of the authors (in the same vein as Larry's Programming Perl). Humor makes the learning more pleasant. However, the incessant reference of the Flintstone is unbearable for a non-fan.
I wish that the book were less wordy so that it can cover more in 300 pages, and that it would cover such fundamental concept as Unicode (good support since 5.8, while this book covers 5.10) in this day and age of globalized software/Internet environment.
I also wish the book would give Win32 a bit more weight and be less Unix-centric.
My opinion of the book may not reflect that of a total beginner, but if I put myself in the shoe of someone new to Perl but with a little bit of programming experience, I'd rate the Llama book to be a rather good one. At least, the writing and the English is good, which cannot be said of most technical programming books of today. Overall, I would definitely recommend it to anybody new to Perl (but not to programming) as the first book.
Jagadeesh K. Venugop @ 2008-08-07 If you're looking for the best Perl introduction, this is it
An oft-repeated allegation against Perl is that it is write-only. In my opinion, this allegation is usually made by programmers proficient in other languages that have trouble understanding or following Perl idioms (one trivial example: the use of for loops instead of the Perl-native foreach loop).
The value of this book is that it teaches a beginner how to use idiomatic Perl. Someone learning Perl from this book will, in course of time, distinguish between line noise and well-written Perl.
A small subset of Perl is covered, not quite sufficient for much other than basic text processing; however the learning provides a firm base for exploration of other Perl books in O'Reilly's Perl menagerie. Specifically, the "Camel" book (Programming Perl) becomes a lot easier to read once the reader has completed this book and work through its exercises.
In sum, this is the best book for a gentle introduction to a very useful language.
The value of this book is that it teaches a beginner how to use idiomatic Perl. Someone learning Perl from this book will, in course of time, distinguish between line noise and well-written Perl.
A small subset of Perl is covered, not quite sufficient for much other than basic text processing; however the learning provides a firm base for exploration of other Perl books in O'Reilly's Perl menagerie. Specifically, the "Camel" book (Programming Perl) becomes a lot easier to read once the reader has completed this book and work through its exercises.
In sum, this is the best book for a gentle introduction to a very useful language.
Keith Wiljanen @ 2010-05-04 Great learning book
This is my first book that I have read to learn Perl. It is very well written. Concise and easy to understand. I would recommend it to others looking to learn Perl as well.
Wayne @ 2011-01-07 Must-have for anyone learning Perl
Learning Perl, by Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Phoenix, brian d foy is an entertaining and well-written book that will take you from knowing at least a little bit about programming, to knowing a lot about Perl.
Learning Perl starts off with a basic introduction to Perl, with basic data types, subroutines, and input/output (including files). Then you are introduced to more advanced topics such as hashes, regexes, Perl modules, file tests, and directory operations. In this book you will find fairly in-depth discussions on each chapter, with a set of exercises at the end that should take the novice programmer about 45 minutes to complete. The exercises are well written and help the reader retain the information that was presented in the chapter.
I picked up Learning Perl for the obvious reason - I wanted to learn Perl! And this book was a marvelous introduction to the language that says TMTOWTDI (pronounced Tom Towdy). Rather than a horribly dry book full of obfuscated examples, I was surprised at how entertaining the read was. The examples were somewhat contrived (using Flintstones characters, for example), but they were perfect for teaching the principles in each chapter. If you make an honest effort to go through this book and finish the exercises, you can easily learn a lot of Perl in a week. You may not be a Perl whiz, but when you see something like
while (<>){ chomp($_); print $_; }
rather than being utterly confused at the cryptic symbols, you'll have a fairly good (if not great) idea about what's going on.
This book is a must-have for anyone who wants to learn Perl.
Learning Perl starts off with a basic introduction to Perl, with basic data types, subroutines, and input/output (including files). Then you are introduced to more advanced topics such as hashes, regexes, Perl modules, file tests, and directory operations. In this book you will find fairly in-depth discussions on each chapter, with a set of exercises at the end that should take the novice programmer about 45 minutes to complete. The exercises are well written and help the reader retain the information that was presented in the chapter.
I picked up Learning Perl for the obvious reason - I wanted to learn Perl! And this book was a marvelous introduction to the language that says TMTOWTDI (pronounced Tom Towdy). Rather than a horribly dry book full of obfuscated examples, I was surprised at how entertaining the read was. The examples were somewhat contrived (using Flintstones characters, for example), but they were perfect for teaching the principles in each chapter. If you make an honest effort to go through this book and finish the exercises, you can easily learn a lot of Perl in a week. You may not be a Perl whiz, but when you see something like
while (<>){ chomp($_); print $_; }
rather than being utterly confused at the cryptic symbols, you'll have a fairly good (if not great) idea about what's going on.
This book is a must-have for anyone who wants to learn Perl.
Midwest Book Review @ 2008-10-10 A programming library's foundation title and a highly recommended pick
LEARNING PERL is a programming library's foundation title and a highly recommended pick: it covers all the basics of what most programmers use and need to get started with Perl, and offers up a fifth edition of a classic first published in 1993. The latest changes to the software including Perl 5.10 are covered in chapters that discuss file operations, expressions, matching, and more. It also covers all kinds of platforms, from web applications to finance, and goes beyond the usual 'how to program in Perl' book to enhance the methods and approaches of the Perl programmer.
David Karapetyan @ 2011-01-06 great intro
I'm not sure there is anything I can say that hasn't already been said. The book has been around for a long time so it has definitely stood the test of time. I don't think O'Reilly would continue publishing newer editions just to keep up with the language if there wasn't demand for it.
It is a very well written introduction to modern perl and in fact the book was designed to be used in a classroom setting so it's very learner friendly, classroom or not. Having some programming knowledge I went through the book faster than usual but it's actually quite enjoyable because there is enough new material in it to keep experienced programmers engaged. There is extensive information on pretty much every aspect of perl that a beginner is likely to encounter and I've already ordered "Intermediate Perl" because after reading "Learning Perl" I'm convinced that I want to continue learning the more advanced aspects of perl more in depth.
It is a very well written introduction to modern perl and in fact the book was designed to be used in a classroom setting so it's very learner friendly, classroom or not. Having some programming knowledge I went through the book faster than usual but it's actually quite enjoyable because there is enough new material in it to keep experienced programmers engaged. There is extensive information on pretty much every aspect of perl that a beginner is likely to encounter and I've already ordered "Intermediate Perl" because after reading "Learning Perl" I'm convinced that I want to continue learning the more advanced aspects of perl more in depth.
Bobbie Lynn @ 2010-12-24 The Book Most Perl Programmers Start With
Learning Perl is one of the rare books in computing that nearly everyone agrees is great. It takes you through the process of learning the Perl programming language with example code and exercises.
Any time that someone says that they plan to learn Perl, it's pretty much just assumed that this book will be their first choice as a resource and that reputation is well deserved. It starts out by giving you a sense of where Perl fits into the realm of computer languages and how it came about and then moves on to the actual meat of teaching you the various commands and structures within the language.
One of the things that makes this unique as a book on learning a programming language is that it can really take you a long way past the beginner stage. While the core of the text sticks to explaining the basics and avoids getting tangled up in details that won't matter to a beginner, the book also contains extensive footnotes to provide more in-depth information.
The writing is very clear, and benefits from the extensive experience that the authors have in teaching people to use Perl. It also includes some humorous comments that I really enjoyed, though I'll admit to having a weakness for geek humor in general.
I received access to an electronic copy of this book at no charge from O'Reilly Media Inc. for the purpose of writing this review.
Any time that someone says that they plan to learn Perl, it's pretty much just assumed that this book will be their first choice as a resource and that reputation is well deserved. It starts out by giving you a sense of where Perl fits into the realm of computer languages and how it came about and then moves on to the actual meat of teaching you the various commands and structures within the language.
One of the things that makes this unique as a book on learning a programming language is that it can really take you a long way past the beginner stage. While the core of the text sticks to explaining the basics and avoids getting tangled up in details that won't matter to a beginner, the book also contains extensive footnotes to provide more in-depth information.
The writing is very clear, and benefits from the extensive experience that the authors have in teaching people to use Perl. It also includes some humorous comments that I really enjoyed, though I'll admit to having a weakness for geek humor in general.
I received access to an electronic copy of this book at no charge from O'Reilly Media Inc. for the purpose of writing this review.
P. Kumar @ 2009-05-06 Best source for Learning Perl...
This is an excellent Perl book for everyone from freshers to experts.
Its interesting to read with good examples wherever required & exercises for practice.
Will definitely be getting Intermediate Perl once I complete this.
Its interesting to read with good examples wherever required & exercises for practice.
Will definitely be getting Intermediate Perl once I complete this.
Thomas J. Leeper @ 2011-12-01 Useful; Sort of Humorous
Had to learn Perl for a project at work. Picked this up along with Programming Perl. It's easy to follow, covers all the basics well, and has a modest sense of humor. For the purpose of getting quick exposure from authors in the know, this seems the better option than The Camel, but I imagine this is not comprehensive if you're trying to become a dedicated Perl programmer.
sinbad @ 2011-08-30 Exceptionally well written.
It's a pity more "Learning foo" texts aren't written this way. The level of detail, the examples, and the length of this book are pleasantly appropriate for the programmer attempting to grasp Perl.
After a couple frustrating, failed attempts to understand Perl over the years, I finally get it after reading this cover to cover. In addition to language fundamentals, the Perl culture - and its most crucial idioms - are laid out in a simple and straightforward manner.
Fun read with almost 100% useful content. (I don't say that often.)
After a couple frustrating, failed attempts to understand Perl over the years, I finally get it after reading this cover to cover. In addition to language fundamentals, the Perl culture - and its most crucial idioms - are laid out in a simple and straightforward manner.
Fun read with almost 100% useful content. (I don't say that often.)
Willy Y. Guggenheim @ 2011-08-22 An excellent introduction to PERL
This video has been an amazing introduction to PERL & I am going to get the "intermediate" book next! I am very thankful to the author for making this book very enjoyable and understandable. I highly recommend this book!
Michal Owsiak @ 2011-07-26 Learn programing Perl with elementary book
Learning Perl is a typical elementary book. You can find there everything, beginner needs. You will be guided through the basics of Perl, elementary data types, structures and conditional loops. What this book reminds me is good old "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan and Ritchie. Authors of Learning Perl simply go step by step and present language specific constructs to the reader. However, this book is not for everybody. It is neither a reference guide, nor a "Learn by example" kind of book. It's an elementary. You will be though Perl from the very basics and I am pretty sure this is great for people who begin their experience with Perl. What I liked within the book? Well, the "Some Advanced Perl Techniques" chapter - which is unfortunately very short, brought my attention. Another interesting part of the book was devoted to regular expressions, however I missed XML related examples and references. XML is quite important these days and to pass over it is strange thing for me. In general, I'd advise buying it to anyone who wants to learn Perl a consistent way rather than through "found in the Internet" examples. On the other hand, if you are looking for a reference or advanced book on Perl - try finding something else.
Lucas Holt @ 2011-07-22 Excellent Book
This is by far one of the best technical books I've read on any programming language. The writing gets you interested in the topic and there is a great deal of explanation if you want it, but it's also easy to avoid when you don't. The book is organized well.
Mark @ 2011-04-02 Learning Perl
This is an excellent book for someone wanting to learn Perl who already has some exposure to programming in general. I really like the answers in the back for times I'm stuck on a problem. I have a beginners book for C programming that does not have the answers. When I'm stuck in this book, I'm out of luck. I have both the Kindle and paperback versions of Perl book. I will usually read the material on the Kindle and when it comes to doing the problems, reach for the paperback because it is easier to flip back through the pages looking for information.
Eric Fox @ 2010-11-07 Excellent Book
Easy to understand and easy to implement. I work for a banking company that is using Perl almost for every project. This book helps to start and code Perl script. I strongly recommend it.
Alexander L. Ruud @ 2010-02-24 Friendly Perl starter
I usually dislike textbooks (bought this for a class), but this book is very nice. The language is more like having a conversation since the book will make jokes and admit to silly things that happen in Perl.
The book makes very few assumptions about the reader's experience, but still may move fast for a total code beginner. Numerous, fully explained examples help in that regard. All in all, a great book.
The book makes very few assumptions about the reader's experience, but still may move fast for a total code beginner. Numerous, fully explained examples help in that regard. All in all, a great book.
John Hughes "Redneck @ 2009-03-17 Great for learning Perl.
This is a great book for those who are new to programming in Perl. Very good explanations of Perl and the examples are very good too.
Narayanan D. Potti " @ 2008-10-16 Good book for beginners to PERL
For folks who are new to PERL this is a good book to learn the language. The presentation is easy to understand and illustrations help us grasp the concepts faster. There are exercises at the end of each chapter which helps in getting to do hands-on programming. I would have liked more exercises in some of the chapters. It would have been better if there were questions / challenges spread along the chapter.
green69 @ 2010-10-13 Excellent intro book to Perl
This book is an excellent introduction to Perl. I bought it without knowing anything about this language and in a few days I was able to set up nice scripts.
Jason R. Powell "JPT @ 2009-08-22 Learning Perl
This book is a great place to start your programming adventure. It clearly lines out complex concepts in a way beginners can understand. I highly recommend this for anyone interested in systems administration or web development.
anonymous @ 2008-09-15 Irritating comments
The book is irritating. (-2 star) I keep wasting my time looking for every little star, cross, double cross, ... symbol in the text. Almost every page has comments at the bottom, and these comments are denoted by tiny symbols. I'd like to see the authors find all the text that goes with all those comments. They really need to listen to their own advice and write the book for people who will be reading it.
The book is incomplete. (-1 star) The authors keep mentioning things that will be discussed later or not at all. I have to look for the topics on the Internet to get an explanation.
The book uses terms without fully explaining them. A beginner would not understand the terms without looking them up on the Internet. (-1 star)
The book covers some interesting syntax rules. (+1 star)
The book gives exceptions to the rules. (+1 star)
The book is up-to-date. (+1 star)
The book gives fully contained examples (+1 star)
The book is incomplete. (-1 star) The authors keep mentioning things that will be discussed later or not at all. I have to look for the topics on the Internet to get an explanation.
The book uses terms without fully explaining them. A beginner would not understand the terms without looking them up on the Internet. (-1 star)
The book covers some interesting syntax rules. (+1 star)
The book gives exceptions to the rules. (+1 star)
The book is up-to-date. (+1 star)
The book gives fully contained examples (+1 star)
neko712 @ 2010-11-29 Good learning book, not as good a reference.
This book provides everything needed to begin programming with Perl in a logical order and an entertaining style. It is better for someone who has programmed in another language before and best for a Linux user.
I have two suggestions for improvement. One is to expand and enhance the index. Sometimes when i need to review a topic I can not find the information in the book without scanning the chapters. The other suggestion is to delete some of the information about shortcuts. As a person starting with Perl, what I need is the basics of how to use the language. All of the shortcuts can be confusing. I can wait until later to learn how to save key strokes.
I have two suggestions for improvement. One is to expand and enhance the index. Sometimes when i need to review a topic I can not find the information in the book without scanning the chapters. The other suggestion is to delete some of the information about shortcuts. As a person starting with Perl, what I need is the basics of how to use the language. All of the shortcuts can be confusing. I can wait until later to learn how to save key strokes.
Joao Coelho "bookiem @ 2011-03-24 poorly organized and simple examples carelessly written
I bought the book a few years ago trying to learn perl. I stopped it because it was too obtuse. The examples are too simple and by their simplicity they confuse not elucidate. Then the organization, it's terrible; topics that should be held together are strewn all over the place. Example from chapter on subroutines. The authors create a subroutine in a discussion of return values. The routine has some code but the variables it uses have no values, so one is now wondering what is happening here. To be fair, they are just using it as an example, but if one tries to run the code, it will return a 0 because the two variables it uses in the routine are never assigned any value. Why are they doing this? Organization, in this same chapter they have the section on return values, but a few pages later bypassing other sections within the chapter they have another section on the return operator. Why did they not include this topic within the section on return values? It's crasy. I would not recommend this book.
J. Barcelo @ 2009-08-26 Good, well-written introduction
I was pleased, as I often am with this publisher's books, with the clarity of the text. Within a few hours I was able to write my first useful perl scripts.
This book and a PC (with Perl downloaded, to permit you to execute & test your programs) make for a complete learning environment.
This book and a PC (with Perl downloaded, to permit you to execute & test your programs) make for a complete learning environment.
Debra Whiting @ 2010-07-25 New to Programming
I have had a Linux course and a course on pseudocode, and supposedly had the prerequisites to take a Perl course at the college. The class basically consisted of reading the text and then completing the graded homework. I pick up on patterns very easily, but struggled because the code in the book was just snippets and examples were sorely lacking. In order to see a pattern, I needed to see the code used for an actual purpose, i.e., "find the social security numbers that begin with 547." The book will tell you this is the code and this is what it looks like, but does not give an application piece. With the Internet, it would be great if the authors linked a website to the book which has applicable uses of the code. This could even be as a Wiki, so others could contribute. I read the book 3-4 times and acquired a "knowledge" level of Bloom's taxonomy. If you were to ask me for the command for such and such, I could tell you. However, I can't use the codes in actual situations--which should be the whole point of learning Perl.
Ryik Draicon @ 2009-08-06 Good fast shipping
Good fast shipping. Shipped in the state that was stated. I have not had much time with the book so i will not comment on the contents of the book.
Share your thoughts with other customers
Create your own review
Create your own review