Programming Perl

by Tom Christiansen, Jon Orwant, Larry Wall

Perl is a powerful programming language that has grown in popularity since it first appeared in 1988. The first edition of this book, Programming Perl, hit the shelves in 1990, and was quickly adopted as the undisputed bible of the language. Since then, Perl has grown with the times, and so has this book.

Programming Perl is not just a book about Perl. It is also a unique introduction to the language and its culture, as one might expect only from its authors. Larry Wall is the inventor of Perl, and provides a unique perspective on the evolution of Perl and its future direction. Tom Christiansen was one of the first champions of the language, and lives and breathes the complexities of Perl internals as few other mortals do. Jon Orwant is the editor of The Perl Journal, which has brought together the Perl community as a common forum for new developments in Perl.

Any Perl book can show the syntax of Perl's functions, but only this one is a comprehensive guide to all the nooks and crannies of the language. Any Perl book can explain typeglobs, pseudohashes, and closures, but only this one shows how they really work. Any Perl book can say that my is faster than local, but only this one explains why. Any Perl book can have a title, but only this book is affectionately known by all Perl programmers as "The Camel."
This third edition of Programming Perl has been expanded to cover version 5.6 of this maturing language. New topics include threading, the compiler, Unicode, and other new features that have been added since the previous edition.

Genres: Programming, Reference, Nonfiction, Computers, Technical, Technology, Computer Science

1092 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Ed Limonov]

A great read and I think it will be an even better re-read in the future.

[Apple84 Wylie]

The "camel" book. This book should be everyone's initiation into Perl. It is a great way to get your feet wet and start to see the scope of what Perl can do. Read this one first, "Intermediate Perl" 2nd, for object oriented programming in Perl. If you're still around after that, grab the "Perl Cookbook" to learn some nifty tricks.

[Russel]

This book is the holy grail of Perl programming, it's a must read!

[Marin]

This book is a mixed opinion kind of thing, a lot like the language itself. I think that if you find yourself strangely attached to Perl, you will also experience a strange attachment with this book. It feels as organic and chaotic as the language design and using it as a reference is a lot like using Perl to solve a problem - it's all there, it's just arranged in potentially ridiculous ways.

If you are considering using a printed copy of this book as a reference in this day and age, you should consider other options. Do you refer to printed manpages often? I thought not. Considering the book's notorious organization (notorious lack thereof), the only way you're going to be successful in finding specific language topics in reasonable time here is if you have already read the book a couple of times cover to cover (in which case you don't need my opinion).

However, this is generally construed as one of those good books on programming languages. It has an above average level of detail, it makes for an introductory text as well as a tune-up for the advanced user, but the real charm is how naturally language concepts are explained (even if they're misguided) and the unique insight it gives on the language design resulting in moments of unexpected intuition when using Perl. I think this book is beloved by a rare sort of right-brained geeks - it's too emotional for a stereotypical coolly logical C programmer and too technical and intense for a stereotypical creative think-tank Ruby programmer. It's Perl through and through.

[James Swenson]

Would you believe it if I said that a programming manual was compusively readable? Pick up this book: I particularly recommend Chapter 27, "Perl as Culture" -- including the subsection on "Perl poetry."

Oh -- it's also a really useful reference, as should be expected, because the author is also the creator of the programming language.

Along with the camel, you'll probably want the llama.

[Detlef]

I read this book back when it was only a couple years published. I laughed really hard and puzzled through the programming. I didn't have what it took to stick with Perl. I moved quickly into areas where I had better prospects. Recently, I've returned to dabble a little in areas where Perl is a solid choice and am having all these fond memories. I'm not sure I'll pick this up and read it again just yet. I also remember the llama book being more helpful getting me off the ground and I might revisit that!

[Clintweathers]

Perl was my first language after not having written any code for 25 years and ASM being my weapon of choice during the 8-bit 6502 days.

This book not only taught me about Perl, but filled in a lot of the gaps in programming theory that I'd missed when I taught myself as a teenager.

It works well as a tutorial guide, as a reference, and as an intro to Comp Sci text.

I have it at my elbow whenever I work in Perl.

[Joe]

I give it a marginal 5 stars, mostly for all the use I've gotten out of it. The organization of the book is not the best, for example it would be nice if other keywords and reserved symbols (like, say, "while" or "{") were covered in detail in an easy to find ordered reference section, as the functions are. But it's still the best Perl reference out there.

[Phil Moyer]

The original PERL book, written by Larry Wall, the designer/creator of PERL. Probably a bit dated now, I read this many years ago when PERL was first released and I needed to teach myself this "new" language. As with all the O'Reilly series of books, this is a good introduction to the language that will get you up and running in short order.

[Jack Repenning]

Excellent reference work. It was better, back in the first edition, when the programming examples were co-bound, but it's really getting so huge (all the useful libraries) I can see why they don't do that any more.

TMTOWDI!

[Anton Shevtsov]

Библия perl "Camelbook" - это один из тех источников к которому обращаешься постоянно в работе с Perl. Самое фундаментальное, основательное и, что немаловажно, человекочитабельное издание легендарной книги.

Всем начинающим, и продвинутым разработчикам рекомендуется в качестве настольной книги.

[Alan]

excellent book. I really enjoyed this. It basically brought me up to speed in about a day on perl. This is a classic in my library.

[Budi Rahardjo]

The book in perl. A must if you're a perl programmer.

[Tom]

The Perl Bible.

[Charlie]

Granted, I did not read this cover to cover, but very close to it.

For anyone hacking away at perl, this is the bible.

[RJ]

Programming Perl (3rd Edition) by Larry Wall (2000)

[Sachin]

Need to read this "The Bible"

[Daniel]

This is my bible when it comes to Perl.

[Nathan Herring]

To be fair, I love Perl. I learned mostly on the 2nd edition, but this is the one on my shelf. Seriously in-depth but still easy to consume and then use as an indexable reference.

[carl theaker]

This was the text for a Perl class and appropriately
so as it was taught by Tom Christiansen one of the authors.
Contains all the perls of wisdom you should need for this
language.

[Siva]

Must read for all Perl programmers

[Marc Towersap]

great geek perl book, should be on every perl developers bookshelf

[Duong]

I owe so much to this book. It would not be exaggerating to say this box changed my life.

[Frank]

Classic perl programming book, back when hashes were 'associative arrays'.

[Bruce Orcutt]

A must have reference for those needing to program in PERL.

[Rick Eversole]

It's the Perl Camel book. Need I say more?

[Fred]

Worth reading again and again ....

[Chankey Pathak]

A complete reference book for Perl programming language. A bit old but covers most of the topics.

[Charles Bunders]

This is the book that helped me fall in love with programming. One of the ten most influential works on programming in history IMHO.

[Polar Bear]

One of five books I'd take to a deserted island with great internet and no Amazon delivery. Huge but worth re-reading periodically. Will teach you both Perl and Unix/Linux.