Table of Contents
Created originally by Larry Wall, Perl is available for almost every operating system. It has evolved from a simple report scripting language to one of the most effective general purpose computer languages while still retaining the strengths of its scripting origins.
Distributions
As an open source project, everyone is free to enhance Perl as required but the larger development teams have done an excellent job of maintaining compatibility.
There are three main strands of Perl development:
Additional Development Tools
There are many add-ons to the basic Perl language. The following are just the ones that we have found particularly usefull:
Programming Perl
- Perl Libraries and Search Paths - What did they know and when did they know it?
- Perl Execution Tracing - Keeping track of where and when.
- Perl Regular Expressions - More powerfull than a locomotive, if not as fast as a speeding bullet!
- Perl Dates and Times - You got the time? I've got the place.
- Perl String Handling - It isn't all talk.
- Perl and External Processes - Playing nice across multiple operating systems.
- Perl Help File Display Subsystem - Giving succour to the needy.
- Perl Progress Spinner - Whiling away the time.
- Perl File Handling - Putting things away neatly.
- Perl Or Pipe Syntax - The faster way to decide on doing nothing.
- Perl Associative Arrays - hash with your chips.
- Perl Debugger - Getting to the bottom of things.
- Perl and Object Orientated Programming - classier Perl!
- Perl Anomalies - there are problems even in the best families.
Useful Pages
There's stacks of information on Perl out there. These are just a few pages that we have found especially helpful.
