=head1 NAME
-perlfaq2 - Obtaining and Learning about Perl ($Revision: 3606 $)
+perlfaq2 - Obtaining and Learning about Perl ($Revision: 8539 $)
=head1 DESCRIPTION
=head2 How can I get a binary version of perl?
+For Windows, ActiveState provides a pre-built Perl for free:
+
+ http://www.activestate.com/
+
+Sunfreeware.com provides binaries for many utilities, including
+Perl, for Solaris on both Intel and SPARC hardware:
+
+ http://www.sunfreeware.com/
+
If you don't have a C compiler because your vendor for whatever
reasons did not include one with your system, the best thing to do is
grab a binary version of gcc from the net and use that to compile perl
Some URLs that might help you are:
- http://www.cpan.org/ports/
- http://www.perl.com/pub/language/info/software.html
+ http://www.cpan.org/ports/
+ http://www.perl.com/pub/language/info/software.html
-Someone looking for a perl for Win16 might look to Laszlo Molnar's djgpp
-port in http://www.cpan.org/ports/#msdos , which comes with clear
-installation instructions. A simple installation guide for MS-DOS using
-Ilya Zakharevich's OS/2 port is available at
+Someone looking for a perl for Win16 might look to Laszlo Molnar's
+djgpp port in http://www.cpan.org/ports/#msdos , which comes with
+clear installation instructions. A simple installation guide for
+MS-DOS using Ilya Zakharevich's OS/2 port is available at
http://www.cs.ruu.nl/%7Epiet/perl5dos.html
and similarly for Windows 3.1 at http://www.cs.ruu.nl/%7Epiet/perlwin3.html .
first. Consult the Usenet FAQs for your operating system for
information on where to get such a binary version.
+You might look around the net for a pre-built binary of Perl (or a
+C compiler!) that meets your needs, though:
+
+For Windows, Vanilla Perl (http://vanillaperl.com/) comes with a
+bundled C compiler. ActivePerl is a pre-compiled version of Perl
+ready-to-use.
+
+For Sun systems, SunFreeware.com provides binaries of most popular
+applications, including compilers and Perl.
+
=head2 I copied the perl binary from one machine to another, but scripts don't work.
That's probably because you forgot libraries, or library paths differ.
=head2 What modules and extensions are available for Perl? What is CPAN? What does CPAN/src/... mean?
-CPAN stands for Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, a ~1.2Gb archive
-replicated on nearly 200 machines all over the world. CPAN contains
-source code, non-native ports, documentation, scripts, and many
-third-party modules and extensions, designed for everything from
+CPAN stands for Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, a multi-gigabyte
+archive replicated on hundreds of machines all over the world. CPAN
+contains source code, non-native ports, documentation, scripts, and
+many third-party modules and extensions, designed for everything from
commercial database interfaces to keyboard/screen control to web
-walking and CGI scripts. The master web site for CPAN is
+walking and CGI scripts. The master web site for CPAN is
http://www.cpan.org/ and there is the CPAN Multiplexer at
-http://www.cpan.org/CPAN.html which will choose a mirror near you
-via DNS. See http://www.perl.com/CPAN (without a slash at the
-end) for how this process works. Also, http://mirror.cpan.org/
-has a nice interface to the http://www.cpan.org/MIRRORED.BY
-mirror directory.
+http://www.cpan.org/CPAN.html which will choose a mirror near you via
+DNS. See http://www.perl.com/CPAN (without a slash at the end) for
+how this process works. Also, http://mirror.cpan.org/ has a nice
+interface to the http://www.cpan.org/MIRRORED.BY mirror directory.
-See the CPAN FAQ at http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html for
-answers to the most frequently asked questions about CPAN
-including how to become a mirror.
+See the CPAN FAQ at http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html for answers
+to the most frequently asked questions about CPAN including how to
+become a mirror.
CPAN/path/... is a naming convention for files available on CPAN
sites. CPAN indicates the base directory of a CPAN mirror, and the
-rest of the path is the path from that directory to the file. For
+rest of the path is the path from that directory to the file. For
instance, if you're using ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN
as your CPAN site, the file CPAN/misc/japh is downloadable as
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/misc/japh .
-Considering that there are close to two thousand existing modules in
-the archive, one probably exists to do nearly anything you can think of.
-Current categories under CPAN/modules/by-category/ include Perl core
-modules; development support; operating system interfaces; networking,
-devices, and interprocess communication; data type utilities; database
-interfaces; user interfaces; interfaces to other languages; filenames,
-file systems, and file locking; internationalization and locale; world
-wide web support; server and daemon utilities; archiving and
-compression; image manipulation; mail and news; control flow
-utilities; filehandle and I/O; Microsoft Windows modules; and
-miscellaneous modules.
+Considering that, as of 2006, there are over ten thousand existing
+modules in the archive, one probably exists to do nearly anything you
+can think of. Current categories under CPAN/modules/by-category/
+include Perl core modules; development support; operating system
+interfaces; networking, devices, and interprocess communication; data
+type utilities; database interfaces; user interfaces; interfaces to
+other languages; filenames, file systems, and file locking;
+internationalization and locale; world wide web support; server and
+daemon utilities; archiving and compression; image manipulation; mail
+and news; control flow utilities; filehandle and I/O; Microsoft
+Windows modules; and miscellaneous modules.
See http://www.cpan.org/modules/00modlist.long.html or
-http://search.cpan.org/ for a more complete list of modules by category.
+http://search.cpan.org/ for a more complete list of modules by
+category.
-CPAN is not affiliated with O'Reilly Media.
+CPAN is a free service and is not affiliated with O'Reilly Media.
=head2 Is there an ISO or ANSI certified version of Perl?
If all else fails, consult http://perldoc.perl.org/ which has the
complete documentation in HTML and PDF format.
-Many good books have been written about Perl--see the section below
-for more details.
+Many good books have been written about Perl--see the section later in
+L<perlfaq2> for more details.
Tutorial documents are included in current or upcoming Perl releases
include L<perltoot> for objects or L<perlboot> for a beginner's
presented in the same style as the Llama book, continue your education
with the Alpaca book:
- Learning Perl Objects, References, and Modules (the "Alpaca Book")
- by Randal L. Schwartz, with Tom Phoenix (foreword by Damian Conway)
- ISBN 0-596-00478-8 [1st edition June 2003]
+ Intermediate Perl (the "Alpaca Book")
+ by Randal L. Schwartz and brian d foy, with Tom Phoenix (foreword by Damian Conway)
+ ISBN 0-596-10206-2 [1st edition March 2006]
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/lrnperlorm/
-If you're not an accidental programmer, but a more serious and
-possibly even degreed computer scientist who doesn't need as much
-hand-holding as we try to provide in the Llama, please check out the
-delightful book
-
- Perl: The Programmer's Companion
- by Nigel Chapman
- ISBN 0-471-97563-X [1997, 3rd printing Spring 1998]
- http://www.wiley.com/compbooks/catalog/97563-X.htm
- http://www.wiley.com/compbooks/chapman/perl/perltpc.html (errata etc)
-
-If you are more at home in Windows the following is available
-(though unfortunately rather dated).
-
- Learning Perl on Win32 Systems (the "Gecko Book")
- by Randal L. Schwartz, Erik Olson, and Tom Christiansen,
- with foreword by Larry Wall
- ISBN 1-56592-324-3 [1st edition August 1997]
- http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/lperlwin/
-
Addison-Wesley ( http://www.awlonline.com/ ) and Manning
( http://www.manning.com/ ) are also publishers of some fine Perl books
such as I<Object Oriented Programming with Perl> by Damian Conway and
Elements of Programming with Perl
by Andrew L. Johnson
ISBN 1-884777-80-5 [1st edition October 1999]
- http://www.manning.com/Johnson/
+ http://www.manning.com/johnson/
Learning Perl
by Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Phoenix, and brian d foy
ISBN 0-596-10105-8 [4th edition July 2005]
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/learnperl4/
- Learning Perl Objects, References, and Modules
- by Randal L. Schwartz, with Tom Phoenix (foreword by Damian Conway)
- ISBN 0-596-00478-8 [1st edition June 2003]
+ Intermediate Perl (the "Alpaca Book")
+ by Randal L. Schwartz and brian d foy, with Tom Phoenix (foreword by Damian Conway)
+ ISBN 0-596-10206-2 [1st edition March 2006]
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/lrnperlorm/
=item Task-Oriented
Damian Conway
with foreword by Randal L. Schwartz
ISBN 1-884777-79-1 [1st edition August 1999]
- http://www.manning.com/Conway/
+ http://www.manning.com/conway/
Data Munging with Perl
Dave Cross
=head2 Which magazines have Perl content?
-The first (and for a long time, only) periodical devoted to All Things Perl,
-I<The Perl Journal> contains tutorials, demonstrations, case studies,
-announcements, contests, and much more. I<TPJ> has columns on web
-development, databases, Win32 Perl, graphical programming, regular
-expressions, and networking, and sponsors the Obfuscated Perl Contest
-and the Perl Poetry Contests. Beginning in November 2002, TPJ moved to a
-reader-supported monthly e-zine format in which subscribers can download
-issues as PDF documents. For more details on TPJ, see http://www.tpj.com/
-
-Beyond this, magazines that frequently carry quality articles on
-Perl are I<The Perl Review> ( http://www.theperlreview.com ),
-I<Unix Review> ( http://www.unixreview.com/ ),
-I<Linux Magazine> ( http://www.linuxmagazine.com/ ),
-and Usenix's newsletter/magazine to its members, I<login:>
-( http://www.usenix.org/ )
+I<The Perl Review> ( http://www.theperlreview.com ) focuses on Perl
+almost completely (although it sometimes sneaks in an article about
+another language).
+
+Magazines that frequently carry quality articles on Perl include I<The
+Perl Review> ( http://www.theperlreview.com ), I<Unix Review> (
+http://www.unixreview.com/ ), I<Linux Magazine> (
+http://www.linuxmagazine.com/ ), and Usenix's newsletter/magazine to
+its members, I<login:> ( http://www.usenix.org/ )
The Perl columns of Randal L. Schwartz are available on the web at
http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/WebTechniques/ ,
http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/UnixReview/ , and
http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/LinuxMag/ .
+The first (and for a long time, only) periodical devoted to All Things
+Perl, I<The Perl Journal> contains tutorials, demonstrations, case
+studies, announcements, contests, and much more. I<TPJ> has columns
+on web development, databases, Win32 Perl, graphical programming,
+regular expressions, and networking, and sponsors the Obfuscated Perl
+Contest and the Perl Poetry Contests. Beginning in November 2002, TPJ
+moved to a reader-supported monthly e-zine format in which subscribers
+can download issues as PDF documents. In 2006, TPJ merged with Dr.
+Dobbs Journal (online edition). To read old TPJ articles, see
+http://www.ddj.com/ .
+
=head2 What mailing lists are there for Perl?
Most of the major modules (Tk, CGI, libwww-perl) have their own
=head1 REVISION
-Revision: $Revision: 3606 $
+Revision: $Revision: 8539 $
-Date: $Date: 2006-03-06 12:05:47 +0100 (lun, 06 mar 2006) $
+Date: $Date: 2007-01-11 00:07:14 +0100 (Thu, 11 Jan 2007) $
See L<perlfaq> for source control details and availability.
=head1 AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT
-Copyright (c) 1997-2006 Tom Christiansen, Nathan Torkington, and
+Copyright (c) 1997-2007 Tom Christiansen, Nathan Torkington, and
other authors as noted. All rights reserved.
This documentation is free; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
projects / p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git / blobdiff