a book for perl

[NewBGRuL]

I want to learn perl. what book do u guys think is the best and the easiest book or any good book to learn perl.
thanx

[kel]

Well, if you have prior programming experience, I'd recommend just going through the Perl docs.


$ perldoc perl


That will return this list:

PERL(1) User Contributed Perl Documentation PERL(1)


NAME
perl - Practical Extraction and Report Language

SYNOPSIS
perl [ -sTuU ] [ -hv ] [ -V[:configvar] ]
[ -cw ] [ -d[:debugger] ] [ -D[number/list] ]
[ -pna ] [ -Fpattern ] [ -l[octal] ] [ -0[octal] ]
[ -Idir ] [ -m[-]module ] [ -M[-]'module...' ]
[ -P ] [ -S ] [ -x[dir] ]
[ -i[extension] ]
[ -e 'command' ] [ -- ] [ programfile ] [ argument ]...

For ease of access, the Perl manual has been split up into
a number of sections:

perl Perl overview (this section)
perldelta Perl changes since previous version
perl5004delta Perl changes in version 5.004
perlfaq Perl frequently asked questions
perltoc Perl documentation table of contents

perldata Perl data structures
perlsyn Perl syntax
perlop Perl operators and precedence
perlre Perl regular expressions
perlrun Perl execution and options
perlfunc Perl builtin functions
perlopentut Perl open() tutorial
perlvar Perl predefined variables
perlsub Perl subroutines
perlmod Perl modules: how they work
perlmodlib Perl modules: how to write and use
perlmodinstall Perl modules: how to install from CPAN
perlform Perl formats
perllocale Perl locale support

perlref Perl references
perlreftut Perl references short introduction
perldsc Perl data structures intro
perllol Perl data structures: lists of lists
perltoot Perl OO tutorial
perlobj Perl objects
perltie Perl objects hidden behind simple variables
perlbot Perl OO tricks and examples
perlipc Perl interprocess communication
perlthrtut Perl threads tutorial

perldebug Perl debugging
perldiag Perl diagnostic messages
perlsec Perl security
perltrap Perl traps for the unwary
perlport Perl portability guide
perlstyle Perl style guide

Start at perldata and work your way down. Its very informative, and its free. You'll learn much more about the ins-and-outs of the language too.

If you would prefer a book, I'd recommend Learning Perl (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/lperl3/) from Oreilly (http://www.oreilly.com). Great introductory text.

Hope that helps.

[jjjj]

I have the laerning Perl book. I have been meaning to read it one of these days.

[kmj]

If you already know programming pretty solid-like, go for O'reilly's "Programming Perl", otherwise, go get "Learning Perl". If you really get into perl, you're gonna want to have programming perl by your side anyway.. (actually I usually just use the docs that kel mentioned, but for the most part I've already done the "learning" part.. I use the docs available at activestate.com in all of their hyperlinky goodness. :D)

[genec]

Disclaimer: I spend way too much money on books. (But too much info is good sometimes).

The perl books I have:

Teach Yourself Perl In 24 hours- too technical for a newbie such as I

Perl 5 for Dummies - Pretty good, but not enough explanations

Perl, A Beginner's Guide - This book rocks. It explains concepts, gives real examples, has frequents quizes and projects to reinforce what you've learned. This is the only Perl book I'm reading cover2cover. (by R. Allen Wyke & Donald B. Thomas, Osborne press)

[TheLinuxDuck]

newBGRul:

Although the perldocs are nice, they can be confusing if you're not familiar with perl.

As others have said, if you are new to programming (or even just new to perl), I would suggest "Learning Perl" from O'Reilly. It is a great book for getting familiar with perl.

Once you are familiar with Perl, I would suggest getting "Programming Perl, 3rd Edition" from O'Reilly. This book has been a VALUE to me.. I keep it by me and use it all the time. I've been doing perl about a year now, and I find that it just flat out rocks for a reference book.

Also, go and check out www.perl.com (http://www.perl.com) and www.perl.org (http://www.perl.org) .. you can find some great tutorials.

And, if you just want to see some perl code, take a look at www.codeexamples.org. (http://www.codeexamples.org.) The site (which I happen to be a mod at) focuses on code examples with detailed commenting.

But, the two books I mentioned above were part of the way that I learned.

Also, ask a lot of questions here, in this forum. You will gain a wealth of knowledge by picking the brains of the folks who frequent this forum.