Perl Reunion
I began my perils in web programming with Perl a long time ago--mainly because that was the only thing available. I programmed everything from a mailing list manager to matchmaker software to a complete website management package. And I was using flat file databases for everything.
But when I first heard about PHP (I think somewhere around 2 years ago) I switched over. PHP is very similar to Perl, but it allowed me to grow into the world of databases, something I had been largely ignorant about during my Perl days. Well I have been using PHP instead of Perl ever since.
What's my point? Well about a week ago I developed the need to write a quick Perl program which did some basic file management stuff on my Linux workstation. I started trying to make my program, but I was soooo rusty. I kept forgetting the differences between Perl and PHP. Anyway, I started checking out what's new with Perl. And now I see a whole new world for Perl (actually the old world, but it's new to me), Unix system functions. And I read a little about being able to develop Perl GUI programs. Cool!
Anybody have any idea where a Perl veteran can brush up on his skills and learn how to make Linux GUI apps?
Gil Hildebrand, Jr.
Internet Consultant
New Orleans, LA
japhy posted this at 16:52 — 22nd February 2001.
They have: 161 posts
Joined: Dec 1999
If you want to brush up on your Perl skills, there are several approaches you can take:
Price: Free.
Quality: Varies greatly, because the abilities of the authors vary greatly.
Verdict: Maybe as a spring-board to getting back into Perl, but don't rely on them alone.
Price: Free.
Quality: Varies as wildly as the tutorials.
Verdict: This is probably not something you want to put on your resume -- "Learned Perl by hacking Matt Wright's Message Board!"
Price: Not free. Usually $20-$40 per book.
Quality: Very, very good, if you get it from the right sources. The publishers mentioned above publish Perl books written by the maintainers of Perl itself, and the main developers in its community (Randal Schwartz, Mark-Jason Dominus, Tom Christiansen, Nathan Torkington, Damian Conway, and, of course, Larry Wall).
Verdict: I believe I have the complete library of O'Reilly Perl books (save one or two, that would be of no use to me), and they are invaluable. And most of them are humorous and fun to read, besides.
Price: Free.
Quality: They're an incredibly comprehensive set of documents. They're written by the people that write those books I love. They're excellent.
Verdict: But perhaps they're not the best for learning from -- they're more suited for reference. But your mileage may vary. If you're programming with Perl, you owe it yourself and ANYONE you ask for help from to be familiar with the standard documentation. There's no excuse not to be. These docs will save you (and us) a lot of time.
Price: Free.
Quality: Varies wildly. Some mailing lists are full of people that don't know much at all (blind leading the blind). But there are several lists, forums, communities, and IRC channels out there that are frequented by very knowledgeable and helpful folk (like the authors from above). "Lurking", the act of sitting quietly and listening for weeks, is a very useful tool -- it also makes you aware of the community's customs, as it were.
Verdict: I strongly suggest you check out the following: Perl Guru (http://www.perlguru.com/), Perl Monks (http://www.perlmonks.org/), and EFnet and DALnet IRC #perl (EFnet #perl has a web site at http://pound.perl.org/, and DALnet #perl has a web site at http://www.dalnet-perl.org/). I participate in each of these places, and they are very useful.
As far as writing GUIs, you probably want to look at Perl/Tk, the Toolkit interface for Perl.
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