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Perl @ Web Programming
Programming Shed : Programmer Store & Resources |
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Perl Index - Perl Book :
Perl in a Nutshell : A Desktop Quick Reference
by Ellen Siever, Stephen Spainhour, Nathan Patwardhan Paperback: 674 pages Dimensions (in inches): 1.33 x 8.99 x 6.02 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates ISBN: 1565922867; 1 edition (December 31, 1998) Perl in a Nutshell strives to be a perfect set of socket tools for the active Perl programmer. By and large, it succeeds, providing endless and well-thought-out lists and tables on the language's modules, flags, and extensions. The authors briefly address basic learner's questions--such as the difference between a hash and an array--but these concepts are not the purpose of the book. (Those new to Perl would be better off with others in the O'Reilly Perl series, such as Learning Perl, while programmers making the switch to Perl can pick up the nuances of the language with Programming Perl.) This book is pure Perl reference, briefly covering Perl/Tk (for GUI Perl programs on Unix and Windows 95/NT) and Perl for Win 32. The authors do start at the very beginning, and even in a self-described "desktop quick reference" find the time to comment on less urgent--but still interesting--Perl-related matters (like how to find online help amidst the "Perl culture"). The format of the book makes sections on topics such as Perl debugging easily understandable, illustrating how to make an interactive and timesaving environment. Of particular convenience is the outstanding section on the standard Perl modules. A four-page "quick look" allows you to easily scan through short definitions of all the modules and find the entry you're looking for. An index with full definitions for each module follows, showing you how to use each module and providing a more in-depth explanation (and often, examples). Perl in a Nutshell concludes--as you might expect--with an excellent and well-cross-referenced index. --Jennifer Buckendorff Book Description: Perl in a Nutshell is a comprehensive reference guide to the Perl programming language. This book covers all the core features of the language. It ranges widely through the Perl programmer's universe, gathering together in convenient form a wealth of information about Perl itself and its application to CGI scripts, network programming, database interaction, and graphical user interfaces. It also gives detailed coverage about using Perl within a Win32 environment. This book assembles more information about the language in one place than any other reference work. Here are just some of the topics covered in the book: • Basic language reference • Introduction to using • Perl modules • Perl and CGI: CGI basics, CGI.pm, mod_perl • DBI, the database-independent API for Perl • Sockets programming in Perl • LWP, the library for World Wide Web programming in Perl • The Net::* modules • pTk, the Tk extension to Perl As part of the successful "in a Nutshell" series of books from O'Reilly & Associates, Perl in a Nutshell is for readers who want a single reference for all their needs. Ingram: The perfect companion for working programmers, "Perl in a Nutshell" contains everything you need to know for all but the most abstruse Perl questions. It covers all the core features of the language, from command-line options and built-in functions, to general syntax, special variables, and regular expressions. Book Info: Provides a comprehensive reference guide to the Perl programming language. Covers all the core features of the language. Ranges widely through the Perl programmer's universe, and gives detailed coverage about using Perl within a Win32 environment. Customer Reviews Reviewer: Joseph E. Swanson from Michigan Like all of the "Nutshell" series, this book is a detailed language reference with little or no "how to" value. Even so, I learned more about Perl from this book than any other I've read. The basics of the language are well documented and easy to apply when you need to. The second portion of the book deals with the various modules available for Perl. It is in this section that the book begins to gloss over things and becomes far less useful. Even the examples in these areas become more confusing. If you need a reference for the language basics, the book is wonderful. For the modules, it is little more than an overview, leaving you with an understanding of what they are used for, but not always how to use them. Reviewer: A reader from New Jersey This book falls short as a one-stop reference. Other "In a Nutshell" handbooks (VB & VBA in a Nutshell) go to the length of including not only syntax, but many useful examples. This book does little of that. It is a good reference as far as syntax goes and does dabble in the more advanced topics. However, it is best used with one of the other Perl reference books, like 'Perl Cookbook' or 'Learning Perl', very nearby. Reviewer: Shel Silverstein from Dank Mountain, GA United States My 2-star review is from the perspective of an intermediate Perl user. From my exp. with 'Unix in a Nutshell', I expected this book to be all I needed in my briefcase at work. As it turns out, I'll take the "Camel", Programming Perl and leave this uninspiring book at home. Let me give you an example: I was poring over a (slightly) complicated regular expression, trying to figure out what was going on...there seemed no rhyme or reason to it.....there were way too many spaces and yet the pattern was matching!! I then noticed the "x" option on the end of it: /reg-ex/x Thinking this could be the culprit, I broke out Perl:NUTSHELL...I found the appropriate table and it said: this option used to Enable Extended regular expressions. Ah-ha! But wait, what are Extended regular Epressions, and what is the deal with all these extra spaces in my reg-ex? I forwarded a bit and found the section about Extended Regular Expressions. And I found.........nothing. As it turns out (after looking in the Camel), the "x" means that all whitespace in the pattern is ignored, hence all the darn spaces. I made a point to look (again) for this bit of syntactic info in Perl:NUTSHELL, and it is not there. So what is the use of this book then, considering it is missing such a BASIC SYNTAX rule? Good question. Another gripe: where's the freakin examples? While I don't expect NUTSHELL books to EXPLAIN the examples tutorial style, I do expect some basic usage examples to help me with commands I havn't used (again, see Unix in a Nutshell)!! Another quick example for you Perl non-gurus (like myself): I came upon the Perl "filetest" operator "-t"....but the test had no following argument (e.g. the file's name), so I was confused. Off to the Nutshell. Oops. Nothing there except the shortest little description possible. Sigh. Back to the Camel, where I found that this particular file test operator defaults to a filehandle, , and not the usual variable which is $_ (perl's typical default). Hello? This isn't important!? Totally ridiculous for a supposed "reference" book. In conclusion, this book seems to have zero "learning" value, being so terse (not to mention boring) and having so few examples, and only mediocre reference usefulness. Don't buy this one, buy the other O'Reilly books on Perl (Learning Perl and Programming Perl are high quality, as is Perl Cookbook). You might have to lug the Camel around (dromedaries are heavy), but it is superior to this inconcise man-page in every way (has a big reference section + a big 'learning' section). PS. this is the 1st ed. Maybe the 2nd will be worth the money. Reviewer: Thomas Hundt from San Francisco, CA United States This book consists of a 150-page Perl manpage, plus a big, fat catalog of Perl packages. It's great for finding out what's available, but once you've spotted your prey and want to make use of it, you may have to mess around with it for a while to get it to work -- which is where the examples would have been useful. (Of course, if it actually had examples, it would be called "Ultimate Perl Encyclopedia Unleashed", be 1300 pages, and would put all the other Perl authors out of business. This way, we programmers get to enjoy our hobby of book collecting.) Is it worth buying? Yes. But you'll need other books (e.g., Hall: Effective Perl Programming, which is FILLED with nice examples) to show you how to use Perl. And be sure to download or buy the Programming Perl Quick Reference Guide. |
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