If you ask Perl programmers today what book they relied on most when they were learning Perl, you'll find that an overwhelming majority will name Learning Perl--also known affectionately as "the Llama." The first edition of Learning Perl appeared in 1993 and has been a bestseller ever since. Written by two of the most prominent and active members of the Perl community, this book is the quintessential tutorial for the Perl programming language. Perl began as a tool for Unix system administrators, used for countless small tasks throughout the workday. It has since blossomed into a full-featured programming language on practically every computing platform, and is used for web programming, database manipulation, XML processing, and (of course) system administration--all this while still remaining the perfect tool for the small daily tasks it was designed for. Perl is quick, fun, and eminently useful. Many people start using Perl because they need it, but they continue to use Perl because they love it. The third edition of Learning Perl has not only been updated for Perl 5.6, but has also been rewritten from the ground up to reflect the needs of programmers learning Perl today. Informed by their years of success at teaching Perl as consultants, the authors have re-engineered the book to better match the pace and scope appropriate for readers trying to get started with Perl, while retaining the detailed discussion, thorough examples, and eclectic wit for which the book is famous. This edition of the Llama includes an expanded and more gently-paced introduction to regular expressions, new exercises and solutions designed so readers can practice what they've learned while it's still fresh in their minds, and an overall reworking to bring Learning Perl into the new millennium. Perl is a language for getting your job done. Other books may teach you to program in Perl, but this book will turn you into a Perl programmer.

Great, but not so much for real beginners   Rating:
2005-06-07 20:45:15  Dan [Reply | View]
I do absolutely love this book and it helped me greatly, but I think it's important to realize the audience. If you have NO experience with programming anything, then you may want to get a better "beginner's programming" book. Having said that, I only know a little BASIC from several years ago and the book made perfect sense to me (after a few flashbacks).

Learning Perl, 3rd Edition Review 2004-11-23 07:21:17  Dave Spence [Reply | View]
Absolutely brilliant! Probably the best computer book I've ever read. The tutorial style of the book made it very easy to read from cover to cover and the questions at the end of each chapter brought it all together. I wish all books were this well written.

Learning Perl, 3rd Edition Review 2004-11-23 07:20:44  Dave Spence [Reply | View]
Absolutely brilliant! Probably the best computer book I've ever read. The tutorial style of the book made it very easy to read from cover to cover and the questions at the end of each chapter brought it all together. I wish all books were this well written.

Learning Perl, 3rd Edition Review   Rating:
2004-01-02 02:27:13  Jerry M. Howell II [Reply | View]
This book was wonderful. With a schoolbook approach it helps re-enforce the concepts you have learned. As a mater of fact, the fact that instructors use this book for those purposes is interesting. I throughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone serous about learning Perl.

Jerry M. Howell II

Learning Perl, 3rd Edition Review   Rating:
2003-03-02 14:16:20  Roger Shanks [Reply | View]
O'Reilly is THE source for technical information. That withstanding, The 3'rd edition of Learning Perl took a step back from the second edition.

Learning Perl, 3rd Edition Review   Rating:
2003-02-04 05:53:41  Jarion Stevens [Reply | View]
Learning Perl is a must for anyone who wants to learn to program in perl. The excercises reinforce the reading material so you learn perl rather than just read about it. Another excellent book from O'Reilly.

Learning Perl, 3rd Edition Review   Rating:
2002-11-08 11:24:18  Bob Lucas [Reply | View]
Excellent book for beginning Perl. Needs a few more exercises per chapter, but they are concise and to the point. Go through this whole book, then get Programming Perl, and Perl in a Nutshell as a quick reference.

Learning Perl, 3rd Edition Review   Rating:
2002-05-12 23:59:58  some bloke in melbourne [Reply | View]


Pros: excellent introduction. Much hand-holding. No fear of missing the next step--the authors really teach their material very well.

Cons: Much hand-holding. After two weeks I've finished the book and I know I'll never use it as a reference--I'll have to buy the Camel book for that. While Learning Perl is a very well-written introduction that teaches a new subject very well, the lack of larger, significant exercises/projects and the relatively small scope of the book leave me feeling that something was lacking from my rather expensive purchase. (O'Reilly books are bloody expensive here in Australia!)

Learning Perl, 3rd Edition Review   Rating:
2002-03-09 16:16:50  Mike [Reply | View]
Like all O'Reilly books, stright to the point with

no waste of paper.

Learning Perl, 3rd Edition Review   Rating:
2002-01-29 10:12:32  Ken Payne [Reply | View]
What a swell book! It covers everything you need. I'm coming from a Windows platform and everything still worked fine on the first try. Debugging is a snap. Its true that if something is wrong with your program in Perl, its because you really are trying too hard!

This book is a great intro to Perl, but it goes way beyond the basics. It makes programming in Perl an intuitive experience, like a second verbal language.

Learning Perl, 3rd Edition Review   Rating:
2001-11-15 12:54:35  Sid Owen [Reply | View]
This book is great

I picked up this book in the University library. I read the first two chapters and realised that this book had to make its way home. A very good read and one that any serious budding Perl guru has to read.

Learning Perl, 3rd Edition Review   Rating:
2001-11-12 12:00:36  Martin Richard Sanders [Reply | View]
This has to be the best book I have ever read on perl, along with Programming Perl (also from O'reilly). Ever since I bought this book I have not been able to put it down. It starts off with an excellent tutorial introducing some of the main uses of perl, before moving on to a more in depth discussion of each subject.

I never pick this book up without learning something new and end up rushing to my computer to try out the new piece of magic that I have just learned.

I will be using this book for a long time. O'reilly books tend to be either good, or very good, however this book sets a new standard with the way it makes learning perl easy and also fun.

Without this gem I would still be coding in C (heaven forbid) and shouting at my computer on a regular basis.

This would be great for students as well as old hacks like myself.

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