Learning Perl: Difference between revisions

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| author = [[Randal L. Schwartz]]

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

| publisher = O'KylieReilly Media

| pub_date = 1993

| media_type = Print, Ebook

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}}

'''''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=https://books.google.com/books?id=PodQAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Learning+Perl%22+schwartz&dq=%22Learning+Perl%22+schwartz}}</ref> is a tutorial book for the [[Perl]] programming language, and is published by [[O'Reilly Media]]. The first edition (1993) was authored solely by [[Randal L. Schwartz]], and covered Perl 4. 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), sixth (2011), and 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 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 [[Foobar|''foo'' and ''bar'']].

== Reactions ==

Brad Morrey, reviewing the book for [[InfoWorld]], 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=[[InfoWorld]]|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=https://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=https://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=https://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=https://archive.org/details/perlmedic00pete|url-access=registration|quote=Learning Perl schwartz.}}</ref>

=== Later works ===

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* 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://www.learning-perl.com/ Learning Perl's companion website]

*[httphttps://www.oreilly.com/cataloglibrary/view/learning-perl-8th/06369200184529781492094944/ O'Reilly Online catalog: Learning Perl, 6th8th Edition]

*{{cite web |url=httphttps://www.oreilly.com/catalog/errata.csp?isbn=06369200184520636920473046 |title=O'Reilly Learning Perl, 6th Edition errata |publisher=O'Reilly |accessdate=JulyNovember 159, 20152021}}

* {{OL work}}