Perl, The Complete Reference by Martin C Brown - Book Review

Perl, The Complete Reference

Author : Martin C Brown

Publisher : Osborne McGraw-Hill

The book starts off with a quick look at other programming languages including C, C++ and Java in comparison with Perl, it then moves on to the fundamentals section which takes the reader through the basics with topics such as Scalars, Arrays, Hashes, the different loops used in Perl, and also goes into program structure, file handling, regular expressions and program flow.

The next part of the book 'Programming with Perl' looks at complex data structures, Networking with Perl, Interprocess Communication, Databases amongst other topics.

The section 'Developing Applications' takes the reader through developing User Interface Tools, Creating GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) using the TK package under Unix and the Windows platform. It then goes on to developing applications for the World Wide Web with topics such as the CGI Module, Parsing HTML, MIME types, Security and more.

The next section is 'Fine Tuning Applications' which goes into Debugging and Tuning your Perl applications and gives an extensive look into various debugging methods.
It then goes onto the Perl Compiler, Perl Documentation, Cross Platform Migration Traps and Distributing Modules and Applications.

SUMMARY:
This is a must have for any Perl programmer, if you are new to Perl it gives a great introduction to the language and then moves on to more complex topics.
The way the book is split up makes it a great reference for the shelf. It contains a huge reference to the standard Perl Library giving an insight into the different modules and functions, with a complete list of all the modules included in the Standard Perl Library.

A must-have for any Perl programmer whether a newbie or an old hand.

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