A good Perl book

Specifically for working with the Internet

[basenotes]

Can anyone suggest a good book on Perl, ideally I want a book which groups all the different functions into categorys and lists them along with their syntax and an example.

Most of the books I've found so far, offer sample programs with little discussion of how they work. I suppose I'm after a reference book, one can dip in an out of

Thanks

[timster]

It's not Internet-specific, but Perl in a Nutshell [oreilly.com] is a good, though dated, Perl reference. Here's a sample chapter:

[oreilly.com ]

Can you be more specific than "working with the Internet"? There's Perl CGI's, mod_perl, XML, web graphics, etc., and books for all of that.

Here's a sampler of O'Reilly (I don't own stock or work for them; I just read their books.)

[oreilly.com ]
[oreilly.com ]
[oreilly.com ]

[rocknbil]

If you want a reference, you can go to perl.com and click on documentation, it has all the functions and descriptions, much more handy than a book.

[moltar]

ideally I want a book which groups all the different functions into categorys and lists them along with their syntax and an example.

Sounds exactly like what

perl man

does.

They way I learned Perl:

1. Started poking around free scripts (matt's script archive comes to mind)
   
2. Learning Perl
   
3. Perl Cookbook
   
4. CGI Programming with Perl
   
5. Programming the Perl DBI
   

The whole list [perl.oreilly.com] of Perl books with tables of contents and sample chapters.

[edited by: moltar at 4:18 pm (utc) on May 2, 2005]

[Matt Probert]

I recommend "Perl by Example" by Ellie Quigley, published by Prentice Hall.

And also, though it's not quite what you specify, "Perl Cookbook" published by O'Reilly.

Check them in your local library before buying!

Matt

[basenotes]

Thanks for all the examples. Most appreciated.

[sitz]

Started poking around free scripts (matt's script archive comes to mind)

Just don't treat them like the gospel; they're a mess of security holes.

[moltar]

Just don't treat them like the gospel; they're a mess of security holes.

Good point sitz!

I should have mentioned it myself. Those scripts are no standard at all. I wouldn't even suggest using them now. At the time when i was learning Perl, those were the most popular free scipts. Now there are tons of others out there.

[Moby_Dim]

>> I suppose I'm after a reference book

I do not know whether the book I always have near me is available, but it is great for everyday usage I believe.

Steven Holzner "Perl Core Language" (Little Black Book)

[creutz]

Try
Network Programming with Perl by Lincoln Stein
Published in 2001 by Addison Wesley

It's a bit dated by internet standards,but
covers perl nuts and bolts for cgi thoroghly.