The Perl Cookbook is a comprehensive collection of problems, solutions, and practical examples for anyone programming in Perl. Topics range from beginner questions to techniques that even the most experienced of Perl programmers will learn from. More than just a collection of tips and tricks, the Perl Cookbook is the long-awaited companion volume to Programming Perl, filled with previously unpublished Perl arcana. The Perl Cookbook contains thousands upon thousands of examples ranging from brief one-liners to complete applications. Covered topic areas spread across nearly four hundred separate "recipes," including:

• Manipulation of strings, numbers, dates, arrays, and hashes

• Reading, writing, and updating text and binary files

• Pattern matching and text substitutions

• Subroutines, libraries, and modules

• References, data structures, objects, and classes

• Signals and exceptions

• Accessing text, hashes, and SQL databases

• Screen addressing, menus, and graphical applications

• Managing other processes

• Writing secure scripts

• Client-server programming

• Internet applications programming with mail, news, ftp, and telnet

These recipes were rigorously reviewed by scores of the best minds inside and outside Perl, foremost of which was Larry Wall, the creator of Perl himself. The Perl Cookbook is written by Tom Christiansen, Perl evangelist and coauthor of the bestselling Programming Perl and Learning Perl; and Nathan Torkington, Perl trainer and co-maintainer of the Perl Frequently Asked Questions list.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 114 Ratings

A must have for your book shelf - 2009-03-17
Reviewer Rating:
This book will not teach you Perl, but it contains a recipe for many possible problems that you will have to solve while coding in Perl. It is a MUST HAVE for any Perl programmer.

Wonderful Cookbook - 2009-02-03
Reviewer Rating:
With twenty-two chapters spanning a variety of topics, the Perl Cookbook is enough to satiate any Perl programmer. Although not my top recommendation for a beginner, the book does an excellent job of teaching the basics for those who need it. For a more seasoned programmer this book does not disappoint; the topics covered in later chapters are sure to pique your interest. More importantly, however, it ensures that whatever your task may be, it is done with equal weight placed on both speed and practicality.

The book begins by discussing the various ways to manipulate strings, numbers, arrays and hashes. It conveys various examples of many common tasks that serve as a strong base for future Perl programs. The book then shifts attention to the all-powerful regular expressions, providing numerous commonly used (and often forgotten) examples, not to mention the all-encompassing Regular Expression Grab Bag, a three-page spread of expressions that often sit on the tip of your tongue. From here the book begins to pick up pace and diagram proper programming etiquette and design for subroutines, packages, libraries, modules, classes and objects.

My favorite part of the book comes near the end in the form of sockets and client/server communication. The book quickly gave me the answers I needed on how to establish a proper client and server as well as several options and explanations along the way. Instead of simply telling me what I needed to do, the book gave me several options and explained the pros and cons of each (a common theme I enjoyed throughout the book).

In short, this book allowed me to learn the ins and outs of Perl at my own pace, making this a wonderful cookbook for any Perl chef.

many points of veiw - 2008-09-01
Reviewer Rating:

Much like breaking a huge mirror then taking a picture,... each of the
falling pieces shows a different angle and this book gives you lots of
programing ideas to work with using different ways to do it for
many of the Examples,... if your a program inventor , and if your stuck on how to do something you should get this book!! then you can spend less time searching the internet for answers and more time being productive.

This book will show you how to use perl in many ways that you may not have realized, or have had no idea how to do. this book also gives
Discussions on why the code works the way it does. and then shows another way to do it.

"The book can be used as a reference but I find my self reading it like a novel"

Very good recipies - 2009-07-22
Reviewer Rating:
I liked the book from the minute I started reading. It's written in an easy and understandable manner, and the "cooking recipies" highlight a lot of common questions a typical programmer has when dealing with perl.

Unfortunately it has become a bit dated, and it could do with an update about more modern ways to to things (like e.g. OO with Moose).

A must have - 2008-08-22
Reviewer Rating:
If you are beginner to expert, this helps with simple methods that are tried and true. I find it most helpful in giving me ideas of how to address problems far beyond the scope of the book. Sometimes just simple reminders of cookbook methods stimulates thoughts in orthogonal directions that yield the best solutions to customer problems.

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