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Perl in a Nutshell [Paperback]

Nathan Patwardhan (Author), Ellen Siever (Author), Stephen Spainhour (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

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Paperback, Dec 8 1998 --   -- --
There is a newer edition of this item:
Perl in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference Perl in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference 3.7 out of 5 stars (24)
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Book Description

Publication Date: Dec 8 1998 | Series: In a Nutshell (O'Reilly)

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

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.

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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

Review

"In a nutshell, Perl is designed to make the easy jobs easy, without making the hard jobs impossible." -- Larry Wall, creator of Perl --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars I've used Perl for several years and love this book May 3 2004
By Harold McFarland
Format:Paperback
Exactly as advertised, "Perl in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference" is a great reference book if you already have a basic understanding of Perl. Although it does have a section that it refers to as an "Introduction to Perl" it is actually a pretty cursory introduction and there are better books for learning the basics of Perl.

The book does have an excellent section on installing Perl including installation on both the Unix and Windows platforms. I've worked with both platforms and the installation process is well documented including how to install modules. This brings us to the large chapter on getting and installing Perl modules. I have spent hours sometimes trying to find an appropriate module for a special situation. This chapter lists all the most common modules and includes descriptions of what they do. This alone makes it a valuable resource for anyone involved in Perl.

The authors also include a lot of technical information including command line options and environment variables as well as a section on program structure, data types, special variables, operators, expressions, subroutines, filehandles, and just about anything else that you might need a quick refresher on.

Functions are listed both by category and by alphabetical order with descriptions and syntax information. I had a couple of problems on a large project recently and it took three days to get an answer through the forums on the Internet. The answers to all of them are right here and I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had had this book then.

A lot of other information is available in the book including CGI programming, Webserver programming, database programming, SOAP, Network modules including Net, Mail, NNTP, FTP, and LDAP, Perl/Tk, Win32 Modules and Extensions, OLE Automation, and ODBC Extensions. This book will be the one I keep close at hand when working with Perl and deserves its location on my desktop instead of in the library. "Perl in a Nutshell" is highly recommended for Perl programmers from basic to advanced level.

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3.0 out of 5 stars A handy reference, but... Dec 13 2003
By Jack D. Herrington
Format:Paperback
This is a handy reference, but if you have a limited budget you should probably go with Programming Perl and the Perl Cookbook before this one. This is a fine reference but it doesn't have the depth that the other books have and the information on the modules is available online through CPAN. I have the entire Perl library on my bookshelf and I hardly ever pick this one up.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference! Sep 6 2002
By J. Trelfa
Format:Paperback
I am not a beginning programmer nor am I what you would call an expert. Having a background in PHP made Perl easy to learn, so I didn't need a book that would "teach" Perl. All I needed was a good reference to figure out the differences between PHP and Perl. This book did exactly that! I was able to start programming within a day and I have referenced this book more times than I can count during my most recent development efforts. The binding is nearly worn out! I recommend this book to intermediate programmers that only need a small boost to get to work. If you're a beginner, buy this book to use after you learn the basics and you'll find it to be one of the most valuable tools on your desk!
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Most recent customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars High Level Descriptions with Few Samples
This book is full of alphabetical high level descriptions (which are always ambiguous) of Perl language statements with few or no illustrative examples (which always help clear up... Read more
Published on July 24 2002 by Kenneth J. Freed
2.0 out of 5 stars Missing basic syntax rules. I wonder if the authors use Perl
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. Read more
Published on April 30 2002 by S. Weaver
4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Material But No Examples
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... Read more
Published on May 1 2001 by Thomas Hundt
5.0 out of 5 stars Perl in a Nutshell : A Desktop Quick Reference
Simaply the best reference book for Perl, I highly recommend this book to new users. Over all this is a nice book to read and I recommend this to all of my collegues and friends.
Published on Sep 12 2000 by S. Ng
2.0 out of 5 stars wrong emphases in language reference, good module docs
I'd been occasionally writing perl for a few months without a decent reference, and have always relied on O'Reilly's _In A Nutshell_ series, so got this book. Read more
Published on Sep 9 2000 by T. Garcia
1.0 out of 5 stars Annoyingly Inconsistent and Incomplete
This was one of my first books after Learning Perl, and I have to say after using it for about a month that I'm having to go and buy other books. Read more
Published on Aug 10 2000 by Christopher Everett
4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for the basics, not as good for the advanced feature
Like all of the "Nutshell" series, this book is a detailed language reference with little or no "how to" value. Read more
Published on Mar 2 2000 by Joseph E. Swanson
4.0 out of 5 stars A generally good desktop reference
Like the other books in the O'Reilly Nutshell series, this is a very good desktop reference to have around. However, I have some small gripes with the book. Read more
Published on Jan 10 2000 by Douglas Welzel
4.0 out of 5 stars For Twice the Price Go Buy The CD With All 6 Books
If you want a quick reference, try the CD on for size, speed, and thoroughness.
Published on Nov 29 1999 by "cyberdr"
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reference
This book is a good reference to programm PErl using Modules.
Published on Oct 31 1999
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