Learning Perl: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox book

'''''Learning Perl''''', also known as the ''llama book'',<ref>{{cite book|last=Castro|first=Elizabeth|year=2001|publisher=[[Peachpit Press]]|title=Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web|page=314|isbn=978-0-201-73568-0|accessdate=June 23, 2011|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=PodQAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Learning+Perl%22+schwartz&dq=%22Learning+Perl%22+schwartz}}</ref> is a tutorial book for the [[Perl 5]] programming language, and is published by [[O'Reilly Media]]. It was authored solely by [[Randal L. Schwartz]] in its first edition (1993). The second (1997) edition was coauthored with Tom Christiansen and the third (2001) edition was coauthored with Tom Phoenix. The fourth (2005), fifth (2008) and sixth (2011) editions were written by Schwartz, Phoenix, and [[brian d foy]]. According to the 5th edition of the book, previous editions have sold more than 500,000 copies.<ref>Learning Perl, 5th ed., p. 1</ref>

| name = Learning Perl

| image = Learning Perl.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = [[Randal L. Schwartz]]

| title_orig = <!-- if not in English -->

| publisher = O'Reilly Media

| pub_date = 1993

| media_type = Print, Ebook

| pages = 394

| isbn = 978-1-4919-5432-4

| isbn_note = (print),<br> {{ISBN|978-1-4919-5426-3}} (ebook)

}}

'''''Learning Perl''''', also known as the '''llama book''',<ref>{{cite book|last=Castro|first=Elizabeth|year=2001|publisher=[[Peachpit Press]]|title=Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web|page=314|isbn=978-0-201-73568-0|accessdate=June 23, 2011|url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=PodQAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Learning+Perl%22+schwartz&dq=%22Learning+Perl%22+schwartz}}</ref> is a tutorial book for the [[Perl 5]] programming language, and is published by [[O'Reilly Media]]. ItThe first edition (1993) was authored solely by [[Randal L. Schwartz]], inand itscovered firstPerl edition4. (1993)All subsequent editions have covered Perl 5. The second (1997) edition was coauthored with [[Tom Christiansen]] and the third (2001) edition was coauthored with Tom Phoenix. The fourth (2005), fifth (2008) and, sixth (2011), seventh (2016), and eighth (2021) editions were written by Schwartz, Phoenix, and [[brian d foy]]. According to the 5th edition of the book, previous editions have sold more than 500,000 copies.<ref>Learning Perl, 5th ed., p. 1</ref>

Unlike ''[[Programming Perl]]'', this book is aimed at computer programmers new to Perl. The publisher offers a free sample of the 4th Edition's Chapter Eleven<ref>[http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/learnperl4/chapter/ch11.pdf]</ref> as well as complete set of code examples presented in the 3rd Edition book.<ref>[http://examples.oreilly.com/learnperl4/]</ref>

Unlike ''[[Programming Perl]]'', this book is aimed at computer programmers new to Perl. The publisher offers a free sample of the 4th Edition's Chapter Eleven<ref>[http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/learnperl4/chapter/ch11.pdf]</ref> as well as complete set of code examples presented in the 3rd Edition book.<ref>[{{Cite web|url=http://examples.oreilly.com/learnperl4/]|title = Examples / Learning Perl 4th Edition}}</ref>

Schwartz selected the world of ''[[The Flintstones]]'' for the examples in this book, giving rise to the somewhat frequent use of ''Fred'' and ''Barney'' as [[metasyntactic variable]]s, rather than the classic ''[[foo]]'' and ''[[Bar (computer science)|bar]]''.

Schwartz selected the world of ''[[The Flintstones]]'' for the examples in this book, giving rise to the somewhat frequent use of ''Fred'' and ''Barney'' as [[metasyntactic variable]]s, rather than the classic [[Foobar|''[[foo]]'' and ''[[Bar (computer science)|bar'']]''.

== Reactions ==

Brad Morrey, reviewing the book for [[InfoworldInfoWorld]], praises the book for its "casual, first person style" and concludes that it "is a terrific introduction to the language that will serve as a good reference book once you have read it through."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[InfoworldInfoWorld]]|title=Putting Perl to Work: Fine-tune your web development skills with this updated book|last=Morrey|first=Brad|date=August 3, 1998|accessdate=June 23, 2011|url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=jlIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA75&dqq=%22Learning+Perl%22+schwartz#v=onepage&qpg=%22Learning%20Perl%22%20schwartz&f=falsePA75|page=75}}</ref> In his [[Linux Journal]] review of ''Perl in a Nutshell'', Jan Rooijackers recommends that "If you are totally new to programming and you want to learn Perl, the book Learning Perl ... might be a better place to start."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3372|title=Perl in a Nutshell|last=Rooijackers|first=Jan|date=October 1, 1999|accessdate=June 23, 2011|work=[[Linux Journal]]}}</ref>

Discussing Schwartz' conviction, the [[New York Times]] noted that "Much of the Internet's World Wide Web has been built by programmers who got their start by reading his "Programming Perl" and "Learning Perl" books."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=httphttps://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/27/business/technology-net-intel-computer-security-expert-runs-afoul-law-so-much-for-hacker.html|date=November 27, 1995|accessdate=June 23, 2011|last=Lewis|first=Peter H.|title=TECHNOLOGY: ON THE NET; An Intel computer security expert runs afoul of the law. So much for the 'hacker ethic'?}}</ref> Also reflecting in that case in ''Principles of Information Systems Security'', Gurpreet Dhillon calls ''Learning Perl'', "the definitive Perl instruction guide."<ref>{{cite book|title=Principles of Information Systems Security: text and cases|last=Dhillon|first=Gurpreet|year=2007|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|page=196|url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=mTkkAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Learning+Perl%22+schwartz&dq=%22Learning+Perl%22+schwartz|isbn=978-0-471-45056-6|accessdate=June 23, 2011}}</ref> In ''Perl Medic'', author Peter Scott calls the book "the most common tutorial for learning Perl", but then criticizes its omission of hard references.<ref>{{cite book|last=Scott|first=Peter J.|title=Perl Medic: Transforming Legacy Code|page=[https://archive.org/details/perlmedic00pete/page/150 150]|year=2004|publisher=[[Addison-Wesley Professional]]|isbn=978-0-201-79526-4|accessdate=June 23, 2011|url=httphttps://booksarchive.google.comorg/books?iddetails/perlmedic00pete|url-access=fI1rpcK7jpgC&pgregistration|quote=PA150&dq=%22Learning+Learning Perl%22+ schwartz#v=onepage&q=%22Learning%20Perl%22%20schwartz&f=false.}}</ref>

=== Later works ===

In 20032020, SchwartzKylie published a follow-up to ''Learning Perl'' titled ''Learning Perl Objects, References & Modules''. It picks up where ''Learning Perl'' left off. In 2005, ''Learning Perl Objects, References & Modules'' was updated by Schwartz and brain[[brian d foy]] and re-titled ''[[Intermediate Perl]]'' which is now in its second edition as of 2012. ''[[Mastering Perl]]'', the third book in the trilogy and follow-up to ''Intermediate Perl'', was first published in July 2007 and is also in a second edition as of 2014.

== Editions ==

* First edition (Nov. 1993; 274 pages; {{ISBN |1-56592-042-2}}<!-- unhyphenated version for search engines (possibly) {{ISBN |1-56592-042-2}} -->)

* Second edition (Jul. 1997; 300 pages; covers Perl 5.004; {{ISBN |1-56592-284-0}}{{Null| unhyphenated version for search engines (possibly)|{{ISBN |1-56592-284-0}}}})

* Third edition (Jul. 2001; 330 pages; covers Perl 5.6; {{ISBN |0-596-00132-0}}<span style= "display:none; speak:none;"> unhyphenated version for search engines (possibly) {{ISBN |0-596-00132-0}}</span>)

* Fourth edition (Jul. 2005; 312 pages; covers Perl 5.8; {{ISBN |0-596-10105-8}})

* Fifth edition (Jul. 2008; 348 pages; covers Perl 5.10; {{ISBN |0-596-52010-7}})

* Sixth edition (Jun. 2011; 390 pages; covers Perl 5.14; {{ISBN |1-4493-0358-7}})

* Seventh edition (Oct. 2016; 394 pages; covers Perl 5.24; {{ISBN|1-4919-5432-9}})

* Eighth edition (Aug. 2021; 398 pages; covers Perl 5.34; {{ISBN|978-1-49-209495-1}})

== References ==

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== External links ==

*[http://oreillywww.learning-perl.com/catalog/0636920018452/ O'Reilly Online catalog: Learning Perl,'s 6thcompanion Editionwebsite]

*[httphttps://www.oreilly.com/cataloglibrary/view/learning-perl-8th/9781492094944/errata.csp?isbn=0636920018452 O'Reilly Online catalog: Learning Perl, 6th8th Edition errata]

*{{cite web |url=https://www.oreilly.com/catalog/errata.csp?isbn=0636920473046 |title=O'Reilly Learning Perl, 6th Edition errata |publisher=O'Reilly |accessdate=November 9, 2021}}

* {{OL work|id=OL1701007W}}

{{Perl}}

[[Category:1993 fiction books]]

[[Category:1997 non-fiction books]]

[[Category:2001 non-fiction books]]

[[Category:2005 non-fiction books]]

[[Category:2008 non-fiction books]]

[[Category:2011 non-fiction books]]

[[Category:O'Reilly Media books]]

[[Category:Books about Perl]]