CORE PERL

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Experienced developers can learn techniques and real-world code for mastering Perl in this tutorial and reference. Coverage begins with fundamentals of Perl development such as basic syntax and text processing, then proceeds to Perl's facilities for working with files, networks, and relational databases. The book shows how to make the most of Perl in any Web application, from simple CGI to full-fledged site development and delivery. Lerner is a Web/database consultant. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. xiii)
• 1 What is Perl? (p. 2)
• 1.1 What is Perl? (p. 3)
• 1.2 When not to use Perl (p. 5)
• 1.3 The Perl license (p. 6)
• 1.4 Perl versions and standardization (p. 6)
• 1.5 Perl support (p. 7)
• 1.6 Retrieving and installing Perl (p. 7)
• 1.7 Retrieving modules from CPAN (p. 11)
• 1.8 Conclusion (p. 14)
• 2 Getting Started (p. 16)
• 2.1 Basic programs (p. 17)
• 2.2 Compiler or interpreter? (p. 19)
• 2.3 Statements and blocks (p. 20)
• 2.4 Variables (p. 21)
• 2.5 Scalars (p. 22)
• 2.6 Lists and arrays (p. 33)
• 2.7 Hashes (p. 43)
• 2.8 References (p. 48)
• 2.9 Lexicals and globals (p. 56)
• 2.10 Conclusion (p. 59)
• 3 Extending Your Perl Vocabulary (p. 60)
• 3.1 Basic output (p. 61)
• 3.2 Time (p. 65)
• 3.3 Basic input (p. 66)
• 3.4 Conditional execution (p. 67)
• 3.5 Comparison operators (p. 71)
• 3.6 Logical operators (p. 74)
• 3.7 Order of operations (p. 76)
• 3.8 Loops (p. 76)
• 3.9 Sorting (p. 84)
• 3.10 Files (p. 87)
• 3.11 Built-in variables (p. 92)
• 3.12 Data manipulation functions (p. 94)
• 3.13 Running external programs (p. 100)
• 3.14 fork (p. 104)
• 3.15 eval (p. 107)
• 3.16 Conclusion (p. 109)
• 4 Subroutines (p. 112)
• 4.1 Subroutine basics (p. 114)
• 4.2 Return values (p. 115)
• 4.3 Variables within subroutines (p. 122)
• 4.4 Subroutine arguments (p. 127)
• 4.5 Subroutine references (p. 130)
• 4.6 BEGIN and END (p. 133)
• 4.7 Signals (p. 136)
• 4.8 Conclusion (p. 139)
• 5 Text Patterns (p. 142)
• 5.1 What are text patterns? (p. 144)
• 5.2 Metacharacters (p. 147)
• 5.3 Anchoring searches (p. 150)
• 5.4 Character classes (p. 150)
• 5.5 Predefined character classes (p. 152)
• 5.6 Parentheses (p. 154)
• 5.7 Grabbing parts of a string (p. 155)
• 5.8 Substitution (p. 158)
• 5.9 Greediness (p. 159)
• 5.10 Options for matching and replacing (p. 160)
• 5.11 Study (p. 164)
• 5.12 Regexp objects (p. 165)
• 5.13 tr/// (p. 165)
• 5.14 Substituting across multiple files (p. 167)
• 5.15 Grep (p. 168)
• 5.16 Conclusion (p. 169)
• 6 Modules (p. 170)
• 6.1 Packages (p. 172)
• 6.2 Modules (p. 177)
• 6.3 Exporting symbols (p. 181)
• 6.4 Some example modules (p. 184)
• 6.5 Documenting modules with POD (p. 189)
• 6.6 Conclusion (p. 191)
• 7 Objects (p. 194)
• 7.1 Objects (p. 196)
• 7.2 Methods (p. 197)
• 7.3 Inheritance (p. 201)
• 7.4 Creating and working with objects (p. 206)
• 7.5 Conclusion (p. 216)
• 8 Tying (p. 218)
• 8.1 Tying (p. 220)
• 8.2 Tying a scalar (p. 221)
• 8.3 Tying a hash (p. 227)
• 8.4 Tying an array (p. 239)
• 8.5 Conclusion (p. 243)
• 9 Working with Files (p. 244)
• 9.1 Basic file access (p. 246)
• 9.2 Random file access (p. 248)
• 9.3 Filehandles (p. 251)
• 9.4 Globbing (p. 258)
• 9.5 Real and effective IDs (p. 259)
• 9.6 File permissions (p. 261)
• 9.7 suid and sgid (p. 264)
• 9.8 Unary file tests (p. 265)
• 9.9 Stat (p. 269)
• 9.10 Locking (p. 270)
• 9.11 Directories (p. 272)
• 9.12 Renaming and deleting (p. 276)
• 9.13 Links (p. 277)
• 9.14 Conclusion (p. 279)
• 10 Networking and Interprocess Communications (p. 282)
• 10.1 Pipes (p. 284)
• 10.2 Network communication (p. 293)
• 10.3 Working with Internet protocols (p. 302)
• 10.4 Conclusion (p. 316)
• 11 Relational Databases (p. 318)
• 11.1 What is a relational database? (p. 320)
• 11.2 Introducing SQL (p. 320)
• 11.3 SELECT (p. 325)
• 11.4 Joins (p. 331)
• 11.5 Updating and deleting (p. 332)
• 11.6 Indexes (p. 333)
• 11.7 Perl and databases (p. 334)
• 11.8 Simple DBI programs (p. 338)
• 11.9 Conclusion (p. 341)
• 12 Building Database Applications (p. 344)
• 12.1 Database design (p. 346)
• 12.2 Writing the applications (p. 353)
• 12.3 Debugging DBI (p. 368)
• 12.4 Conclusion (p. 371)
• 13 Maintenance and Security (p. 372)
• 13.1 Identifying problems (p. 374)
• 13.2 When things go wrong (p. 378)
• 13.3 Tainting (p. 382)
• 13.4 Debugging (p. 383)
• 13.5 Benchmarking (p. 392)
• 13.6 Conclusion (p. 395)
• 14 CGI Programming (p. 398)
• 14.1 Dynamic Web content (p. 399)
• 14.2 CGI (p. 404)
• 14.3 Error messages and debugging (p. 409)
• 14.4 Redirection (p. 412)
• 14.5 More CGI methods (p. 416)
• 14.6 Conclusion (p. 418)
• 15 Advanced CGI Programming (p. 420)
• 15.1 User registration (p. 422)
• 15.2 Cookies (p. 428)
• 15.3 Graphic output (p. 434)
• 15.4 Templates (p. 440)
• 15.5 Conclusion (p. 444)
• 16 Web/Database Applications (p. 446)
• 16.1 Stock updates (p. 448)
• 16.2 Postcards (p. 459)
• 16.3 Personalization with databases (p. 465)
• 16.4 Conclusion (p. 477)
• 17 mod_perl (p. 480)
• 17.1 Installing and configuring mod_perl (p. 482)
• 17.2 Configuration directives (p. 484)
• 17.3 Three simple handlers (p. 486)
• 17.4 Apache:: Registry (p. 493)
• 17.5 Useful modules (p. 493)
• 17.6 Conclusion (p. 502)
• 18 Mason (p. 504)
• 18.1 Mason (p. 505)
• 18.2 autohandler and dhandler (p. 515)
• 18.3 autohandler (p. 515)
• 18.4 Session management (p. 518)
• 18.5 Conclusion (p. 525)
• A Bibliography and Recommended Reading (p. 526)
• A.1 Perl books (p. 527)
• A.2 Periodicals (p. 529)
• A.3 World Wide Web (p. 529)
• A.4 Databases (p. 530)
• A.5 Useful Web sites (p. 530)
• Index (p. 533)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

REUVEN M. LERNER has been a Web/database consultant since 1995, specializing in open-source software such as Perl and Linux. He lives with his wife and daughter in Modi'in, Israel.