I want to learn Perl and would prefer to get a book to start off with, has anyone got a suggestion or favourite book they think I should get? I want just a beginners book for now.
for perl,
richcasto is on the money, o'rielly's learning perl 3rd edition is a good place to begin, with the o'rielly's programming perl.
I think the black book I only like because of the difference in writing style, which only matters to some. Either selection, and you'll be off to a great start.
I understand that O'Reilly books are more like reference books, I want one to learn the basics. Should I get an O'Reilly book?
Nice choice learning perl :)
The "Learning Perl" book is the one you need costs £15. One of the cheaper ones.
The first chapter is a great introduction.
But - maybe a book isn't what you need. To give you the best advice on what to do, let us know:
What system do you have? (Linux, Windows etc)
What experience with computers do you have already? (HTML, any programming).
What is your main goal? Learning to program for the "fun" of it or do you have a program that you want to write.
There are masses of really good FREE introductions on the net. If you let us know the level we'll save you a bit of cash.
Also do you have Perl on your system? If you have windows check out Active State Perl. Linux - its probably already installed.
When you have the basics of Perl there is one book I would recommend above all others... "Perl Cookbook" - saves me more time than anything else - but not for learning the language.
Hope this helps... I started out programming BBC basic , so you're already leaps ahead of where I started :)
Luke, unless you're pursuing doing Perl programming as a primary goal, what you might need to start out with, just to grasp some basic concepts, get a quick start, and get an idea of practical usage, are the basics of using existing Perl scripts (there are LOADS of free ones available) in developing websites, which gets into using CGI (Common Gateway Interface).
I'm reading O'Reilly's "Learning Perl" now, which is excellent, but it's actually more than I needed to start using Perl scripts. I started with a book on CGI programming that I got on the book clearance counter at a large computer store. No, it didn't teach me Perl, but I got enought to get a start with using scripts. I need more to be able to modify scripts for what I need, though. I used a Sam's book to start with - those are on a very simple, elementary level.
They're now part of InformIT, and have a free library of books you can read on line at no cost. You do have to "join" by giving your email address to use them. They're available here:
[samspublishing.com...]
There's a link on the bottom left for the Library, and "Sam's Teach Yourself CGI Programming with Perl in a Week" is on Page 5 of the catalog.
If you've never used a script, Matt's Formmail is a good start, not only because most sites benefit by using a form to submit data by email, but because this particular script is so widely available and used on *nix web hosts. it's available most every place. www.hotscripts.com and www.cgi-resources.com have an excellent selection, including this one.
1st Page 2000 is a free HTML editor you can download, you can use it for editing scripts, and it includes some scripts with it, including Formmail:
[evrsoft.com...]
Do you have any web hosting available to you to be able to use Perl scripts?
I bought Sams Teach Yourself Perl In 24 Hours today and registered it online. I've got the InformIT subscription and have got 1stPage 2000 on a utilities disc somewhere. As for the free web space, no, I was hoping f2s would eventually get some more webservers, they havent yet.
I checked my stickymail, thanks, I'll use that when I get some scripts and learn a bit of Perl.
