Perl

computing: software: programming: Perl

Overview
Perl is a programming language widely used for web sites and Linux servers. It can be somewhat baffling to the eye – largely due to the frequent use of regular expressions – but due to its popularity it has been greatly refined and there is a large base of existing code available for reuse.

Usage

 * Perl reference
 * Perl built-in functions
 * Perl regex
 * official documentation
 * perl manpage

Design

 * Perl vs. PHP

Reference

 * official Perl web site
 * CPAN: documentation links at the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network
 * Perl 6's official release is expected any month now:
 * Official Perl 6 Documentation
 * Official Perl 6 Documentation

Tutorials

 * From the Perl Advent Calendar (2006):
 * Good things come in small packages: the standard profiler and a new line-by-line profiler
 * Peeking under the tree: an object-oriented directory-tree spider
 * Are you naughty or nice?: a lighter version of the CGI module
 * Made my sister eat a bug: the Perl debugger, and an alternative
 * Putting Tinsel on the Tree: using GD and GD::Simple graphics-drawing libraries

Other

 * PUGS, the Perl6 User's Golfing System: online simulation of Perl6
 * Larry Wall's writings:
 * Perl, the first postmodern computer language
 * 2006-09-06 Larry Wall On Perl, Religion, and...: mostly about Perl6, with some religious discussion

Libraries and Modules

 * Collections:
 * CPAN: search the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network
 * Frequently-used libraries:
 * Perl DBI: database interface
 * DBD::AnyData: handles a number of common data formats (expandable) with a DBI-like API
 * Moose: an improved OOP module for Perl5 (Perl6 has better OOP built in)
 * Frameworks
 * Catalyst: web applications