Rating:  - Perl for Dummies
The book is well written and useful. I've a need to write scripts and
do some coding in my job. I feel that this book will help me get past some of the disconnects, in my way of thinking, when it comes to programming. As a Hardware designer I can understand a piece of logic. But I've often struggled with interpretting or writing my own code.
Rating: - Good Reference for Perl Syntax
This was the first book that I used to learn Perl. I would agree with some of the other reviews that it would be tough to learn Perl with just this book. I ended up filling in some of the gaps with "Learning Perl" by Randal L. Schwartz.
The book is an overview of the language and its different uses. It uses a lot of small snippets of useful code for examples which is great when you need that snippet. However, chapter 4 is the only example of a fully written out program and is only used to illustrate what a program would look like. You will not find a fully written out solutions or examples here.
This, in addition to its spartan coverage on certain advance topics, can make parts of the book not very useful and confusing. Do not get this book if you want to learn about the following subjects as it covers them only briefly:
-Object-oriented programming with Perl
-Perl modules
-CGI scripting or other involved server-side scripting
-XML processing
I basically use Perl for data munging and not for web purposes. I generally need to write a quick and dirty script to munge some legacy data. To this end this book is valuable to me. It is a good reference for remembering the quirky Perl syntax. I keep it handy when I need to remember how to write a section of code. I use it as a mini "Perl Cookbook".
I would give it:
4 stars for teaching the basic language
3 stars for coverage of advance material
5 stars for basic reference of regular expressions and data structures.
Rating:  - ETEXASFISHING GUIDE SERVICE
I BOUGHT PERL FOR MY GRANDSON AND HE WAS VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS BOOK. AMAZON WAS VERY CHEAP COMPARED TO OTHER COMPANIES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE BETTY WEEKS
Rating:  - Really Awful
This was my first book for PERL and let me tell you, it was the worst written piece of garbage I have ever read. This book lives up to its name - it makes you feel like a dumbass. This is due to the authors approach in showing you PERL. Rather than breaking down the structure and powerful commands (telling you what they are and what they can do), he instead takes the approach of just showing you countless examples of complex code that the reader hasn't been properly introduced to. To show an example of how to use the chomp command, he buries it within examples along with other commands that he hasn't even talked about. That is confusing for a beginner. If you knew how to read his code, you wouldn't need this book in the first place.
I recommend going with O'Reilly books instead. They tend to take a systematic approach, discussing and breaking down the structure and use of specific commands and then showing you small examples using only the code and commands they already discussed. Believe me, it is better than dummies approach of making you try to read a 50 line code example to see what a specific command can do.
Stay away from the dumies series. All these books do is make you feel like a dummy.
Rating: - Perl for Dummies
I bought this book to 'fill in the gaps' after several years of perl programming. It is providing valuable insights into new areas as well as being easy to learn from. This is particularly true in the area of databases and what different language versions can do. Highly recommend.
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