Many programmers code by instinct, relying on convenient habits or a "style" they picked up early on. They aren't conscious of all the choices they make, like how they format their source, the names they use for variables, or the kinds of loops they use. They're focused entirely on problems they're solving, solutions they're creating, and algorithms they're implementing. So they write code in the way that seems natural, that happens intuitively, and that feels good.

But if you're serious about your profession, intuition isn't enough. Perl Best Practices author Damian Conway explains that rules, conventions, standards, and practices not only help programmers communicate and coordinate with one another, they also provide a reliable framework for thinking about problems, and a common language for expressing solutions. This is especially critical in Perl, because the language is designed to offer many ways to accomplish the same task, and consequently it supports many incompatible dialects.

With a good dose of Aussie humor, Dr. Conway (familiar to many in the Perl community) offers 256 guidelines on the art of coding to help you write better Perl code--in fact, the best Perl code you possibly can. The guidelines cover code layout, naming conventions, choice of data and control structures, program decomposition, interface design and implementation, modularity, object orientation, error handling, testing, and debugging.

They're designed to work together to produce code that is clear, robust, efficient, maintainable, and concise, but Dr. Conway doesn't pretend that this is the one true universal and unequivocal set of best practices. Instead, Perl Best Practices offers coherent and widely applicable suggestions based on real-world experience of how code is actually written, rather than on someone's ivory-tower theories on how software ought to be created.

Most of all, Perl Best Practices offers guidelines that actually work, and that many developers around the world are already using. Much like Perl itself, these guidelines are about helping you to get your job done, without getting in the way.

Praise for Perl Best Practices from Perl community members:

"As a manager of a large Perl project, I'd ensure that every member of my team has a copy of Perl Best Practices on their desk, and use it as the basis for an in-house style guide." -- Randal Schwartz

"There are no more excuses for writing bad Perl programs. All levels of Perl programmer will be more productive after reading this book." -- Peter Scott

"Perl Best Practices will be the next big important book in the evolution of Perl. The ideas and practices Damian lays down will help bring Perl out from under the embarrassing heading of "scripting languages". Many of us have known Perl is a real programming language, worthy of all the tasks normally delegated to Java and C++. With Perl Best Practices, Damian shows specifically how and why, so everyone else can see, too." -- Andy Lester

"Damian's done what many thought impossible: show how to build large, maintainable Perl applications, while still letting Perl be the powerful, expressive language that programmers have loved for years." -- Bill Odom

"Finally, a means to bring lasting order to the process and product of real Perl development teams." -- Andrew Sundstrom

"Perl Best Practices provides a valuable education in how to write robust, maintainable Perl, and is a definitive citation source when coaching other programmers." -- Bennett Todd "I've been teaching Perl for years, and find the same question keeps being asked: Where can I find a reference for writing reusable, maintainable Perl code? Finally I have a decent answer." -- Paul Fenwick "At last a well researched, well thought-out, comprehensive guide to Perl style. Instead of each of us developing our own, we can learn good practices from one of Perl's most prolific and experienced authors. I recommend this book to anyone who prefers getting on with the job rather than going back and fixing errors caused by syntax and poor style issues." -- Jacinta Richardson "If you care about programming in any language read this book. Even if you don't intend to follow all of the practices, thinking through your style will improve it." -- Steven Lembark "The Perl community's best author is back with another outstanding book. There has never been a comprehensive reference on high quality Perl coding and style until Perl Best Practices. This book fills a large gap in every Perl bookshelf." -- Uri Guttman

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 35 Ratings

Good work - 2009-01-05
Reviewer Rating:
This is good stuff.

It's a book with 256 guidelines about how to write better Perl code that's more accurate, faster, and more maintainable. It takes a courageous stand to declare how you /should/ use Perl, not just how you /can/ use it.

Here are some things I really like about the book:

- It covers a helpfully broad range of topics. Most of the things I've gone hunting for in this book so far, I've found. ...Including performance topics.

- It tells me why. I don't agree with every guideline in the book (but I do agree with most of them). It's probably a mathematical impossibility to write a book like this in which every guideline would please everyone (or even /anyone/!). But Damian Conway explains his rationale, which enables me to make an informed decision for myself about every guideline in the book.

- It's compartmental. It has that fun, "it's ok to read just a page or two" kind of structure that lets me grok a couple of little topics at a time, instead of making me plow through a lot to get a little.

I think that Programming Perl (Wall, Christiansen, Orwant) and Perl Cookbook (Christiansen and Torkington) are two of the best programming books ever written. Perl Best Practices is a worthy member of the set. This book has improved the quality of my programming.

Excellent guide for writing better code - 2008-11-24
Reviewer Rating:
Not only do these practices apply to Perl, but they apply to any language. I have told several people who are not perl progreammers to references several of the practices since they hold true in any language.

This is a purely practical book on how to write code that anyone can read and follow with minmal effort. It covers various aspects of coding styles and gives clear concice reasons for WHY they should be used. You can for example, using this book, give a clear reference why spaces should be used over tabs, or why underscores in variable names are simply easier for humans to parse than CamelCase.

Write Perl on Purpose - 2008-11-15
Reviewer Rating:
I started reading Perl Best Practices from page 8 and got bored quickly. But that's because I was reading it the wrong way. First thing, the two introductions -- the preface, and chapter 1, are among the best explanations for why you should care how you write code, in any programming language. The preface begins, "This book is designed to help you write ... the best Perl code you possibly can." Chapter 1 starts with simply, "Code matters." So resist any temptation to skip these intros. Meanwhile, the remaining 18 chapters, each with roughly 20 specific items, cover all of Perl -- much more than one confronts in any specific program. So of course it's boring to read it cover to cover -- it's a reference. But don't just leave it on the shelf until you need it. Instead, set aside 10 minutes a day, and each time, open it up anywhere and start reading. You'll probably be pleasantly suprised to learn something new and useful about a construct you've used many times before.

Still, no one book is the answer. I say read this Perl book for the bite-sized details, and pair it with "Effective Perl Programming" by Hall and Schwartz for the big picture.

All good - 2007-09-14
Reviewer Rating:
This a great manual. Instead of being a reference like most books that you may only need parts of, every chapter has some interesting information and is applicable to daily coding. Since at this point you can learn a lot of Perl just on Google, textbook style manuals are on the way out. Best practices, though, is still very applicable. I wish I had read this book years ago looking back at my functional but awkward scripts.

Perl Salvation! - 2009-11-02
Reviewer Rating:
I came to perl from a C++ background, and was initially horrified by the aspects of perl that control-freak-language developers usually are. However, after using it on and off for a couple of years it became my language of choice because it's so quick and easy to do things that just take too much coding in other languages. (As a friend of mine said who kept pushing me to get used to perl, "Yes, Dave, perl *is* the dark side, but once you go there you'll never want to go back...")

Being A Good Developer I have purchased a number of perl books, and several of those have been useful. The problem is that there's a tremendous amount to remember, especially if you're not coding 100% in perl, especially since encyclopediac reference books just don't have time for the 'why' aspect.

This book excels in a few important ways:

1) There's always a 'why' given, and the right way and the wrong way are contrasted. This makes it, for me, far easier to remember things. It helps that the author uses English very well, and I virtually never find myself wondering what he meant. (In too many programming books, there's just not enough editing of the explanations, and very poor English.)

2) While I don't always agree with the author's best practices, most of the time I do, and he always makes his case well.

3) He shows both 'before and after' code, and gets the amount of code needed to make the point exactly right. I almost never find myself flipping past over-long examples, nor do I find myself not getting things because he's too concise.

This book was both highly useful and a pleasure to read. (Perl is indeed the dark side, but now I revel in the dark side.)

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
Internet/Online
Programming

Sub-Categories:
Internet/Online > Perl
Programming > Perl
Perl > Reference