Perl Hacks

How This Book Is Organized

Chapter 1, Productivity Hacks

Admit it. When you sit down to code, something annoys you. It may be repetitive commands, looking up documentation, or the fact that your coworkers just can't align their equals signs. Getting rid of those interruptions and annoyances will make your life easier and your coding sessions more enjoyable. This chapter suggests a few ideas.

Chapter 2, User Interaction

Menus, graphics, beeps, and command lines: these are all ways your programs grab user attention. Do it kindly. Do it with style. Do it with convenience. This chapter is all about working with other people.

Chapter 3, Data Munging

What does Perl love to extract and report? Data! Hook it up to databases and set it loose on files. It's so easy you might not realize that your code is, well, slow and kludgy. That's okay. Take the tips in this chapter to heart and you can polish your Perl to slice and dice data again.

Chapter 4, Working with Modules

Perl 5's unit of reusable code is the module. When you unleash the power of modules—whether your own or those written by other people—you're on track to becoming a real guru. To do that, you need to go beyond the idea "one file, one namespace, one module." You need to understand what makes them work and how to exploit all of the clever possibilities they provide. This chapter leads the way.

Chapter 5, Object Hacks

Abstraction, encapsulation, and genericity are the keys to designing large, maintainable systems. Objects are one way to go. Sure, some people claim that Perl doesn't really do OO, but they're wrong and you can prove it. Go beyond the blessed hashes and find ways to build powerful abstractions in this chapter.

Chapter 6, Debugging

Of course your code works, but someday you'll have to dig through a pile of Perl left by an obnoxious coworker (even if that was you before you read this book). Don't go in unarmed. Prepare yourself for the worst with a toolkit full of tips and techniques to disarm the hairiest, weirdest code you can imagine. This chapter will shine light on those lurking monsters (and they're not so bad once you get to know them).

Chapter 7, Developer Tricks

Maintaining a program is different from maintaining an entire system. This is doubly true if you work with other people. If anything, discipline and consistency are more important than ever. Of course, so are clever ways to convince other people to do the right thing. Need some leverage to get your shop in shape? This chapter has answers.

Chapter 8, Know Thy Code

"Know thyself," the inscription said. This is the oracle of Perl, not Delphi, so the admonition is a little different. If you really want to take advantage of the deeper mysteries of Perl, you have to be able to look deeply into the language, the libraries, and the interpreter itself—as well as your own code—and understand what's happening. This chapter will take you from programmer to guru. Hang on.

Chapter 9, Expand Your Perl Foo

When the phrase "Perl Fu" just isn't metasyntactic enough, it's time to move on to "Perl Foo." Almost no one has explored every corner of Perl. There's just too much to learn. Until now there have been no maps. This chapter will fill your head with a few of the odder ideas in the world of Perl. Then you'll be ready to discover your own.