X-Git-Url: http://git.shadowcat.co.uk/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=pod%2Fperlfaq2.pod;h=45738abc26e2301df1925cc859ae988301f46a00;hb=ff23347e9ef93e40f6bc9f2bc2656893b6259bf4;hp=ac9c12a9164384589714d1e0a83c3daf13dc1565;hpb=c29ac39d3379a42ccf5d13eb027ef1bb0cf587ac;p=p5sagit%2Fp5-mst-13.2.git diff --git a/pod/perlfaq2.pod b/pod/perlfaq2.pod index ac9c12a..45738ab 100644 --- a/pod/perlfaq2.pod +++ b/pod/perlfaq2.pod @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ =head1 NAME -perlfaq2 - Obtaining and Learning about Perl ($Revision: 1.32 $, $Date: 1999/10/14 18:46:09 $) +perlfaq2 - Obtaining and Learning about Perl ($Revision: 1.20 $, $Date: 2003/01/26 17:50:56 $) =head1 DESCRIPTION @@ -90,14 +90,14 @@ architecture. =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 ~700mb archive +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 commercial database interfaces to keyboard/screen control to web walking and CGI scripts. The master web site for CPAN is http://www.cpan.org/ and there is the CPAN Multiplexer at -http://www.perl.com/CPAN/CPAN.html which will choose a mirror near you +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 @@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ 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. +CPAN is not affiliated with O'Reilly and Associates. =head2 Is there an ISO or ANSI certified version of Perl? @@ -166,25 +167,41 @@ assistance: http://perldoc.cpan.org/ http://www.perldoc.com/ - http://reference.perl.com/query.cgi?tutorials http://bookmarks.cpan.org/search.cgi?cat=Training%2FTutorials =head2 What are the Perl newsgroups on Usenet? Where do I post questions? -The now defunct comp.lang.perl newsgroup has been superseded by the -following groups: +Several groups devoted to the Perl language are on Usenet: comp.lang.perl.announce Moderated announcement group - comp.lang.perl.misc Very busy group about Perl in general - comp.lang.perl.moderated Moderated discussion group + comp.lang.perl.misc High traffic general Perl discussion + comp.lang.perl.moderated Moderated discussion group comp.lang.perl.modules Use and development of Perl modules comp.lang.perl.tk Using Tk (and X) from Perl comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi Writing CGI scripts for the Web. -There is also Usenet gateway to the mailing list used by the crack -Perl development team (perl5-porters) at -news://news.perl.com/perl.porters-gw/ . +Some years ago, comp.lang.perl was divided into those groups, and +comp.lang.perl itself officially removed. While that group may still +be found on some news servers, it is unwise to use it, because +postings there will not appear on news servers which honour the +official list of group names. Use comp.lang.perl.misc for topics +which do not have a more-appropriate specific group. + +There is also a Usenet gateway to Perl mailing lists sponsored by +perl.org at nntp://nntp.perl.org , a web interface to the same lists +at http://nntp.perl.org/group/ and these lists are also available +under the C hierarchy at http://groups.google.com . Other +groups are listed at http://lists.perl.org/ ( also known as +http://lists.cpan.org/ ). + +A nice place to ask questions is the PerlMonks site, +http://www.perlmonks.org/ , or the Perl Beginners mailing list +http://lists.perl.org/showlist.cgi?name=beginners . + +Note that none of the above are supposed to write your code for you: +asking questions about particular problems or general advice is fine, +but asking someone to write your code for free is not very cool. =head2 Where should I post source code? @@ -192,12 +209,12 @@ You should post source code to whichever group is most appropriate, but feel free to cross-post to comp.lang.perl.misc. If you want to cross-post to alt.sources, please make sure it follows their posting standards, including setting the Followup-To header line to NOT include alt.sources; -see their FAQ (http://www.faqs.org/faqs/alt-sources-intro/) for details. +see their FAQ ( http://www.faqs.org/faqs/alt-sources-intro/ ) for details. If you're just looking for software, first use Google -(http://www.google.com), Deja (http://www.deja.com), and -CPAN Search (http://search.cpan.org). This is faster and more -productive than just posting a request. +( http://www.google.com ), Google's usenet search interface +( http://groups.google.com ), and CPAN Search ( http://search.cpan.org ). +This is faster and more productive than just posting a request. =head2 Perl Books @@ -222,7 +239,7 @@ of real-world examples, mini-tutorials, and complete programs is: by Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington, with Foreword by Larry Wall ISBN 1-56592-243-3 [1st Edition August 1998] - http://perl.oreilly.com/cookbook/ + http://perl.oreilly.com/catalog/cookbook/ If you're already a seasoned programmer, then the Camel Book might suffice for you to learn Perl from. If you're not, check out the @@ -253,8 +270,8 @@ If you are more at home in Windows the following is available 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 +Addison-Wesley ( http://www.awlonline.com/ ) and Manning +( http://www.manning.com/ ) are also publishers of some fine Perl books such as I by Damian Conway and I by Lincoln Stein. @@ -276,12 +293,12 @@ Recommended books on (or mostly on) Perl follow. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pperl3/ Perl 5 Pocket Reference - by Johan Vromans + by Johan Vromans ISBN 0-596-00032-4 [3rd edition May 2000] http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/perlpr3/ Perl in a Nutshell - by Ellen Siever, Stephan Spainhour, and Nathan Patwardhan + by Ellen Siever, Stephan Spainhour, and Nathan Patwardhan ISBN 1-56592-286-7 [1st edition December 1998] http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/perlnut/ @@ -289,7 +306,7 @@ Recommended books on (or mostly on) Perl follow. Elements of Programming with Perl by Andrew L. Johnson - ISBN 1884777805 [1st edition October 1999] + ISBN 1-884777-80-5 [1st edition October 1999] http://www.manning.com/Johnson/ Learning Perl @@ -306,8 +323,8 @@ Recommended books on (or mostly on) Perl follow. 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) + http://www.wiley.com/compbooks/catalog/97563-X.htm + http://www.wiley.com/compbooks/chapman/perl/perltpc.html (errata etc) Cross-Platform Perl by Eric Foster-Johnson @@ -349,61 +366,54 @@ Recommended books on (or mostly on) Perl follow. Object Oriented Perl Damian Conway with foreword by Randal L. Schwartz - ISBN 1884777791 [1st edition August 1999] + ISBN 1-884777-79-1 [1st edition August 1999] http://www.manning.com/Conway/ Data Munging with Perl - Dave Cross - ISBN 1930110006 [1st edition 2001] - http://www.manning.com/cross + Dave Cross + ISBN 1-930110-00-6 [1st edition 2001] + http://www.manning.com/cross - Learning Perl/Tk - by Nancy Walsh - ISBN 1-56592-314-6 [1st edition January 1999] - http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/lperltk/ + Mastering Perl/Tk + by Steve Lidie and Nancy Walsh + ISBN 1-56592-716-8 [1st edition January 2002] + http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mastperltk/ =back =head2 Perl in Magazines -The first and only periodical devoted to All Things Perl, I contains tutorials, demonstrations, case studies, +The first (and for a long time, only) periodical devoted to All Things Perl, +I contains tutorials, demonstrations, case studies, announcements, contests, and much more. I has columns on web development, databases, Win32 Perl, graphical programming, regular -expressions, and networking, and sponsored the Obfuscated Perl -Contest. For more details on I, see -http://www.tpj.com/ - -Beyond this, magazines that frequently carry high-quality articles -on Perl are I (see http://www.webtechniques.com/), -I (http://www.performance-computing.com/), and Usenix's -newsletter/magazine to its members, I, at http://www.usenix.org/. -Randal's Web Techniques columns are available on the web at -http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/WebTechniques/ . +expressions, and networking, and sponsors the Obfuscated Perl Contest +and the Perl Poetry Contests. As of mid-2001, the dead tree version +of TPJ will be published as a quarterly supplement of SysAdmin +magazine ( http://www.sysadminmag.com/ ) For more details on TPJ, +see http://www.tpj.com/ + +Beyond this, magazines that frequently carry quality articles on +Perl are I ( http://www.theperlreview.com ), +I ( http://www.unixreview.com/ ), +I ( http://www.linuxmagazine.com/ ), +and Usenix's newsletter/magazine to its members, I +( 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/ . =head2 Perl on the Net: FTP and WWW Access -To get the best performance, pick a site from -the list below and use it to grab the complete list of mirror sites -which is at /CPAN/MIRRORED.BY or at http://mirror.cpan.org/. -From there you can find the quickest site for you. Remember, the -following list is I the complete list of CPAN mirrors -(the complete list contains 165 sites as of January 2001): - - http://www.cpan.org/ - http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ - http://download.sourceforge.net/mirrors/CPAN/ - ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/plan/perl/CPAN/ - ftp://ftp.flirble.org/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/ - ftp://ftp.uvsq.fr/pub/perl/CPAN/ - ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/ - ftp://ftp.dti.ad.jp/pub/lang/CPAN/ - ftp://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/perl/CPAN/ - ftp://cpan.if.usp.br/pub/mirror/CPAN/ - -One may also use xx.cpan.org where "xx" is the 2-letter country code -for your domain; e.g. Australia would use au.cpan.org. -[Note: This only applies to countries that host at least one mirror.] +To get the best performance, pick a site from the list at +http://www.cpan.org/SITES.html . From there you can find the quickest +site for you. + +You may also use xx.cpan.org where "xx" is the 2-letter country code +for your domain; e.g. Australia would use au.cpan.org. [Note: This +only applies to countries that host at least one mirror.] =head2 What mailing lists are there for Perl? @@ -411,14 +421,16 @@ Most of the major modules (Tk, CGI, libwww-perl) have their own mailing lists. Consult the documentation that came with the module for subscription information. - http://lists.cpan.org/ +A comprehensive list of Perl related mailing lists can be found at: + + http://lists.perl.org/ =head2 Archives of comp.lang.perl.misc The Google search engine now carries archived and searchable newsgroup -content. +content. -http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&group=comp.lang.perl.misc +http://groups.google.com/groups?group=comp.lang.perl.misc If you have a question, you can be sure someone has already asked the same question at some point on c.l.p.m. It requires some time and patience @@ -433,7 +445,7 @@ in releases and comes in well-defined packages. There is a very large user community and an extensive literature. The comp.lang.perl.* newsgroups and several of the mailing lists provide free answers to your questions in near real-time. Perl has traditionally been supported by -Larry, scores of software designers and developers, and myriads of +Larry, scores of software designers and developers, and myriad programmers, all working for free to create a useful thing to make life better for everyone. @@ -486,7 +498,7 @@ bugs. Read the perlbug(1) man page (perl5.004 or later) for more information. -=head2 What is perl.com? Perl Mongers? pm.org? perl.org? +=head2 What is perl.com? Perl Mongers? pm.org? perl.org? cpan.org? The Perl Home Page at http://www.perl.com/ is currently hosted by The O'Reilly Network, a subsidiary of O'Reilly and Associates. @@ -509,18 +521,19 @@ and there are many other sub-domains for special topics, such as http://bugs.perl.org/ http://history.perl.org/ http://lists.perl.org/ - http://news.perl.org/ http://use.perl.org/ +http://www.cpan.org/ is the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, +a replicated worlwide repository of Perl software, see +the I question earlier in this document. + =head1 AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington. All rights reserved. -When included as an integrated part of the Standard Distribution -of Perl or of its documentation (printed or otherwise), this works is -covered under Perl's Artistic License. For separate distributions of -all or part of this FAQ outside of that, see L. +This documentation is free; you can redistribute it and/or modify it +under the same terms as Perl itself. Irrespective of its distribution, all code examples here are in the public domain. You are permitted and encouraged to use this code and any