Amazon.com info for 'Professional Perl Programming'

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Back to reviews and details of Professional Perl Programming

Amazon.com reviews:

Rating: 5 Summary: WROX rocks
Comment I initially didn't have time to read this book, and it made a much better reference than O'Reilly's book because it didn't assume you knew what you were doing. The index is nice, and the table of contents helps find anything you don't know the name for - it's all logically organized.

When I finally got around to reading it, it was actually a nice read too.

So far this has been my experience with all the Wrox books I've gotten. They cover well what they cover, but don't always cover everything.

Rating: 3 Summary: very detailed but not easy to read
Comment The book is very detailed and comprehensive, but it is not easy to read and probably not suitable for beginners. Specifically, it does not provide complete examples with inputs, code, and output. There are also plenty of typos and small errors.

Still, in all fairness, this is a very comprehensive book with lots of topics not covered in other books. Also the paper is of good quality. Probably every advanced user should go through the book to pick up on things other books leave out.

Rating: 5 Summary: Highly recommended for a broad audience
Comment This is a very good Perl book! For beginners, intermediates or even advanced programmers in Perl. The book takes you from the basics to advanced applied Perl programming concepts.
The book manages what many others fail to do: It might be the only Perl book you ever need. If you worked through this book, additional information is readily available on the Internet. This book is comprehensive enough to cover everything you need to know about the Perl language to write large scale 'mission critical' applications.
Admitted, if you already own the O'Reillys 'Learning Perl', 'Perl' and 'Perl Cookbook' this book will not contain many news. However, it is written very well and it is understandable, something I cannot always say about the 'original' Perl books or documentation.
If you do web programming, a logical addition to this book is 'Professional Perl Development' which offers lots of good information on how to design sophisiticated web applications.

Rating: 5 Summary: An excellent book for advanced programmers.
Comment This is an excellent, thorough, fairly advanced book.

Until now, I was an o'reilly zealot, clinging to my camel book and my CD bookshelf as the Only True Word.

Finally, here is the first real competitor to that series of books, with a fresh approach to the language that shows that the authors really know what they are doing.

So far, the book has done a great job covering all my industrial-strength perl questions with _examples that work_ and clear, concise explanations of the methods and the context. I find that the examples are really applicable to my professional needs as a contract perl programmer.

There's a great section on object-oriented perl, as well as a good debugging section.

IMHO, This is the best perl book out in a while.

Rating: 2 Summary: Sinks Like a Wrox . . .
Comment Let be begin by saying I'm a Perl evangelist. This is to say that I do my best to spread the word that the language is powerful and useful, yet still easy enough for the non-programmer to learn. I have begun to describe Perl as the "Layman's C." (I'm sure to receive some grief about this moniker.)

I am, however, not a fan of Wrox. It has become cliche with me to peruse their works and find typos, gramatical errors, and faulty code. Just because Wrox puts out a heavy, red book doesn't mean they are doing the topic a service. Here is no exception.

So, how to learn Perl? To glibly say 'code' would be too little. The O'Reilley books do a better job, and they are written by the core elite of the Perl culture. However, just because they can be called Perl elite doesn't mean they can't write resources that make sense. (However, I confess to finding a few typos and a missing parenthesis or two in their code as well . . . so nobody's perfect.)

As a developer, I lean on Perl to handle things that don't need the strength of a systems language (e.g. C, C++, Java). The O'Reilley books are an excellent resource that have gotten better with age. But, let me let you in on a secret. Little of what you'll find in the "Camel books" isn't already available to you free. Perl's own 'man' pages form the core of the books . . . if you've got the time to print, then you've got a top-rate document on your computer.

I can't give a book a one-star when it relates to Perl, unfortunately.