SAMS Teach Yourself Perl in 24 Hours THIRD EDITION

How to Look at Data

To give this chapter some context, I'm going to invent a fictional company, WidgetCo, and you are going to take on the role of programmer. WidgetCo is a small (10 employee) shop that sells retail replacement parts for antique bicycles. WidgetCo primarily sells through catalogs to bicycle enthusiasts and repair shops.

Your boss, Mr. Widget, has determined that his company will now be taking orders from the Internet. In fact, he would like you as Chief Programmer to streamline the process. Initially, orders will be received through email sent by someone else's web site. (The exact mechanism for taking such orders over the web will be covered in Hours 21–24.) For now, your concern is dealing with incoming mail messages.

So what ...