Synopses & Reviews
Perl is a versatile, powerful programming language used in a variety of disciplines, ranging from system administration to web programming to database manipulation. One slogan of Perl is that it makes easy things easy and hard things possible.
Intermediate Perl is about making the leap from the easy things to the hard ones.
Originally released in 2003 as Learning Perl Objects, References, and Modules and revised and updated for Perl 5.8, this book offers a gentle but thorough introduction to intermediate programming in Perl. Written by the authors of the best-selling Learning Perl, it picks up where that book left off. Topics include:
- Packages and namespaces
- References and scoping
- Manipulating complex data structures
- Object-oriented programming
- Writing and using modules
- Testing Perl code
- Contributing to CPAN
Following the successful format of
Learning Perl, we designed each chapter in the book to be small enough to be read in just an hour or two, ending with a series of exercises to help you practice what you've learned. To use the book, you just need to be familiar with the material in Learning Perl and have ambition to go further.
Perl is a different language to different people. It is a quick scripting tool for some, and a fully-featured object-oriented language for others. It is used for everything from performing quick global replacements on text files, to crunching huge, complex sets of scientific data that take weeks to process. Perl is what you make of it. But regardless of what you use Perl for, this book helps you do it more effectively, efficiently, and elegantly.
Intermediate Perl is about learning to use Perl as a programming language, and not just a scripting language. This is the book that turns the Perl dabbler into the Perl programmer.
Synopsis
Described as the book that turns the Perl dabbler into the Perl programmer, this book is about making the leap from the easy things to the hard ones. It is written by the bestselling authors of "Learning Pearl" and offers a gentle but thorough introduction to intermediate programming in Perl.
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About the Author
Brian D. Foy has been an instructor for Stonehenge Consulting Services since 1998, a Perl user since he was a physics graduate student, and a die-hard Mac user since he first owned a computer. He founded the first Perl user group, the New York Perl Mongers, as well as the Perl advocacy nonprofit Perl Mongers, Inc., which helped form more than 200 Perl user groups across the globe. He maintains the perlfaq portions of the core Perl documentation, several modules on CPAN, and some stand-alone scripts. He's the publisher of The Perl Review, a magazine devoted to Perl, and is a frequent speaker at conferences including the Perl Conference, Perl University, MarcusEvans BioInformatics '02, and YAPC. His writings on Perl appear in The O'Reilly Network, The Perl Journal, Dr. Dobbs, and The Perl Review, on use.perl.org, and in several Perl usenet groups.
Table of Contents
Foreword; Preface; Structure of This Book; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; Comments and Questions; Safari® Enabled; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: Introduction; 1.1 What Should You Know Already?; 1.2 What About All Those Footnotes?; 1.3 What's with the Exercises?; 1.4 What If I'm a Perl Course Instructor?; Chapter 2: Intermediate Foundations; 2.1 List Operators; 2.2 Trapping Errors with eval; 2.3 Dynamic Code with eval; 2.4 Exercises; Chapter 3: Using Modules; 3.1 The Standard Distribution; 3.2 Using Modules; 3.3 Functional Interfaces; 3.4 Selecting What to Import; 3.5 Object-Oriented Interfaces; 3.6 A More Typical Object-Oriented Module: Math::BigInt; 3.7 The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network; 3.8 Installing Modules from CPAN; 3.9 Setting the Path at the Right Time; 3.10 Exercises; Chapter 4: Introduction to References; 4.1 Performing the Same Task on Many Arrays; 4.2 Taking a Reference to an Array; 4.3 Dereferencing the Array Reference; 4.4 Getting Our Braces Off; 4.5 Modifying the Array; 4.6 Nested Data Structures; 4.7 Simplifying Nested Element References with Arrows; 4.8 References to Hashes; 4.9 Exercises; Chapter 5: References and Scoping; 5.1 More Than One Reference to Data; 5.2 What If That Was the Name?; 5.3 Reference Counting and Nested Data Structures; 5.4 When Reference Counting Goes Bad; 5.5 Creating an Anonymous Array Directly; 5.6 Creating an Anonymous Hash; 5.7 Autovivification; 5.8 Autovivification and Hashes; 5.9 Exercises; Chapter 6: Manipulating Complex Data Structures; 6.1 Using the Debugger to View Complex Data; 6.2 Viewing Complex Data with Data::Dumper; 6.3 YAML; 6.4 Storing Complex Data with Storable; 6.5 Using the map and grep Operators; 6.6 Applying a Bit of Indirection; 6.7 Selecting and Altering Complex Data; 6.8 Exercises; Chapter 7: Subroutine References; 7.1 Referencing a Named Subroutine; 7.2 Anonymous Subroutines; 7.3 Callbacks; 7.4 Closures; 7.5 Returning a Subroutine from a Subroutine; 7.6 Closure Variables as Inputs; 7.7 Closure Variables as Static Local Variables; 7.8 Exercise; Chapter 8: Filehandle References; 8.1 The Old Way; 8.2 The Improved Way; 8.3 The Even Better Way; 8.4 IO::Handle; 8.5 Directory Handle References; 8.6 Exercises; Chapter 9: Practical Reference Tricks; 9.1 Review of Sorting; 9.2 Sorting with Indices; 9.3 Sorting Efficiently; 9.4 The Schwartzian Transform; 9.5 Multi-Level Sort with the Schwartzian Transform; 9.6 Recursively Defined Data; 9.7 Building Recursively Defined Data; 9.8 Displaying Recursively Defined Data; 9.9 Exercises; Chapter 10: Building Larger Programs; 10.1 The Cure for the Common Code; 10.2 Inserting Code with eval; 10.3 Using do; 10.4 Using require; 10.5 require and @INC; 10.6 The Problem of Namespace Collisions; 10.7 Packages as Namespace Separators; 10.8 Scope of a Package Directive; 10.9 Packages and Lexicals; 10.10 Exercises; Chapter 11: Introduction to Objects; 11.1 If We Could Talk to the Animals...; 11.2 Introducing the Method Invocation Arrow; 11.3 The Extra Parameter of Method Invocation; 11.4 Calling a Second Method to Simplify Things; 11.5 A Few Notes About @ISA; 11.6 Overriding the Methods; 11.7 Starting the Search from a Different Place; 11.8 The SUPER Way of Doing Things; 11.9 What to Do with @_; 11.10 Where We Are So Far...; 11.11 Exercises; Chapter 12: Objects with Data; 12.1 A Horse Is a Horse, of Course of Course--or Is It?; 12.2 Invoking an Instance Method; 12.3 Accessing the Instance Data; 12.4 How to Build a Horse; 12.5 Inheriting the Constructor; 12.6 Making a Method Work with Either Classes or Instances; 12.7 Adding Parameters to a Method; 12.8 More Interesting Instances; 12.9 A Horse of a Different Color; 12.10 Getting Our Deposit Back; 12.11 Don't Look Inside the Box; 12.12 Faster Getters and Setters; 12.13 Getters That Double as Setters; 12.14 Restricting a Method to Class-Only or Instance-Only; 12.15 Exercise; Chapter 13: Object Destruction; 13.1 Cleaning Up After Yourself; 13.2 Nested Object Destruction; 13.3 Beating a Dead Horse; 13.4 Indirect Object Notation; 13.5 Additional Instance Variables in Subclasses; 13.6 Using Class Variables; 13.7 Weakening the Argument; 13.8 Exercise; Chapter 14: Some Advanced Object Topics; 14.1 UNIVERSAL Methods; 14.2 Testing Our Objects for Good Behavior; 14.3 AUTOLOAD as a Last Resort; 14.4 Using AUTOLOAD for Accessors; 14.5 Creating Getters and Setters More Easily; 14.6 Multiple Inheritance; 14.7 Exercises; Chapter 15: Exporter; 15.1 What use Is Doing; 15.2 Importing with Exporter; 15.3 @EXPORT and @EXPORT_OK; 15.4 %EXPORT_TAGS; 15.5 Exporting in a Primarily OO Module; 15.6 Custom Import Routines; 15.7 Exercises; Chapter 16: Writing a Distribution; 16.1 There's More Than One Way To Do It; 16.2 Using h2xs; 16.3 Embedded Documentation; 16.4 Controlling the Distribution with Makefile.PL; 16.5 Alternate Installation Locations (PREFIX=...); 16.6 Trivial make test; 16.7 Trivial make install; 16.8 Trivial make dist; 16.9 Using the Alternate Library Location; 16.10 Exercise; Chapter 17: Essential Testing; 17.1 More Tests Mean Better Code; 17.2 A Simple Test Script; 17.3 The Art of Testing; 17.4 The Test Harness; 17.5 Writing Tests with Test::More; 17.6 Testing Object-Oriented Features; 17.7 A Testing To-Do List; 17.8 Skipping Tests; 17.9 More Complex Tests (Multiple Test Scripts); 17.10 Exercise; Chapter 18: Advanced Testing; 18.1 Testing Large Strings; 18.2 Testing Files; 18.3 Testing STDOUT or STDERR; 18.4 Using Mock Objects; 18.5 Testing POD; 18.6 Coverage Testing; 18.7 Writing Your Own Test::* Modules; 18.8 Exercises; Chapter 19: Contributing to CPAN; 19.1 The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network; 19.2 Getting Prepared; 19.3 Preparing Your Distribution; 19.4 Uploading Your Distribution; 19.5 Announcing the Module; 19.6 Testing on Multiple Platforms; 19.7 Consider Writing an Article or Giving a Talk; 19.8 Exercise; Appendix A: Answers to Exercises; A.1 Answers for Chapter 2; A.2 Answers for Chapter 3; A.3 Answers for Chapter 4; A.4 Answers for Chapter 5; A.5 Answers for Chapter 6; A.6 Answer for Chapter 7; A.7 Answers for Chapter 8; A.8 Answers for Chapter 9; A.9 Answers for Chapter 10; A.10 Answers for Chapter 11; A.11 Answer for Chapter 12; A.12 Answer for Chapter 13; A.13 Answers for Chapter 14; A.14 Answers for Chapter 15; A.15 Answer for Chapter 16; A.16 Answer for Chapter 17; A.17 Answers for Chapter 18; A.18 Answer for Chapter 19; Colophon;
Tech Q&A
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