SPUG: GSLUG THIS SATURDAY, October 8th -- Tim Maher on Minimal Perl

Ken Meyer kmeyer at blarg.net
Tue Oct 4 20:30:09 PDT 2005


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The October 2005, regular meeting of the Greater Seattle Linux Users Group
(GSLUG) will be held this Saturday, October 8th, starting at 10:00 AM on
the North Seattle Community College campus.  The ineffable Dave Morse will
be your host, raconteur, bon vivant, inspirational speaker...

  ********************************************************

    We are confirmed to use room IB 3319.

    Parking is free on weekends.

    For directions, please visit the GSLUG monthly meetings web page at:

     	http://www.gslug.org/meeting.html

    Room 3319 is in the Instruction Building (IB) on the west side of the
    building, facing College Way, on the third (top) floor about mid-way
    between the two ventilation towers.  Parking is available directly to
    the west of the building and there are elevators in the towers.

    Please feel free to forward this announcement.

  ********************************************************

The presentation topic will be:

    * 10:00 AM - "Minimal Perl for UNIX and Linux People"

	Tim Maher, CEO - Consultix

		http://TeachMePerl.com
		http://MinimalPerl.com

ABSTRACT:

This talk illustrates the core features of Perl through one-liners and
scripts that are of general interest and applicability to UNIX and Linux
people. Tim teaches UNIX/Linux people to program Perl using an easily
learned and sensible core sub-set of the language.  This sub-set omits what
some consider to be redundant, loony, bizarre, and esoteric features of
Perl.  Without them, the language becomes more accessible, but does not lose
its power and versatility.  Because PERL shares many key concepts and
commands with UNIX/Linux, it may be more easily assimilated and can leverage
the learner's existing knowledge. The content of the talk is adapted from
Tim’s upcoming book, "Minimal Perl for UNIX and Linux People".

SPEAKER’S BIO:

Since 1982, Dr. Tim Maher of Seattle-based Consultix has taught many
thousands of software professionals to program in Unix-related languages.
He's a former employee of AT&T, U.C. Berkeley, and the University of Utah.
He earned a  PH.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of
Toronto, with a doctoral-level minor in Computer Science.  Tim developed the
first Perl code "beautifier", and is the founder of the Seattle Perl Users
Group (SPUG).  He is: a winner of the Perl community's prestigious White
Camel award, a frequent speaker at Perl conferences, and the author of
Manning Publication's upcoming "Minimal Perl for UNIX and Linux People".

SPEAKER’S COMMENTS:

Perl is one of the most expressive, powerful, versatile, O/S-portable, and
fun languages for general-purpose programming.  It is certainly one of the
best choices for applications involving text, HTML, or XML processing, and
for CGI or Database programming.

People using UNIX or Linux would benefit greatly from gaining a basic
understanding of this wonderful but misunderstood language.  You may have
heard that it's "weird", or perhaps "write-only", which may give you pause.
Add to this the daunting proposition of grappling with the important but
1,092 page long "Camel book” [Ed: O’Reilly publications identified by the
type of animal on the cover].  So, many decide to stick with the languages
they already know.

But really, LINUX/UNIX people don't have to learn much Perl to begin to reap
its rewards. That's because Perl encompasses the functionality of certain
core UNIX commands, including grep, sed, and awk; and can be approached as
an enhancement that builds on that functionality.

ORGANIZER’S COMMENTS:

I have attended a number of presentations by Tim Maher, including a four-day
course, and can vouch for Tim’s expertise and for the clarity, “tightness”
and even humor that characterize his instruction.  That’s why we are
departing from our typical meeting agenda and are giving Tim the entire time
allocated to presentations, rather than splitting it between two of them.

RELATED RESOURCES:

See http://MinimalPerl.com for information about Tim's upcoming book,
brochure downloads, and to place advance orders.

See http://TeachMePerl.com/publications/slides.html for the slides
of related presentations, covering

 * the migration of refugees from the lands of UNIX and C to Perlistan
 (http://TeachMePerl.com/publications/dialect_lt.pdf),

 * 5 Perl one-liners every UNIX/Linux user should know
 (http://TeachMePerl.com/publications/5perlcmds.pdf),

 * a recent conference presentation on Minimal Perl
 (http://TeachMePerl.com/publications/mp4ulp_p1_small.pdf), and

   - Dave Morse and Ken Meyer

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    The GSLUG meeting agenda will be as follows:

       10:00 AM       First Presentation

       11:00 AM       Break

       11:10 AM       Key Announcements and (usually) Raffle Quiz

       11:15 AM       Continuation of the First Presentation

       12:15 PM       Break

       12:30 PM       Raffle prizes giveaway, when available

       12:35 PM       GSLUG business, including discussion of potential
		          future presentation topics

                	          Announcements by attendees

                	          Requests for assistance desired during the
		          following Workshop session, including
		          trouble-shooting and help with Linux installation
		          (bring your system).

       1:00 PM-ish    Formal meeting is adjourned; Workshop and
                             social networking opportunities begin,
                             including:

                * Installation and trouble-shooting assistance

                   For recommendations on preparations to maximize the
                   probability of a successful outcome, it is recommended
                   that you consult the "What to Bring" topic, way down the
                   page at:

                        http://www.gslug.org/meeting.html

                * Potential break-out discussions about interest-group
                   activities

                * Informal PGP key signing

                * Talking, chatting, blathering, etc, etc.

       4:00 PM        End of meeting

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GSLUG meetings are held regularly on the second Saturday of the month
at 10 AM, currently at North Seattle Community College and USUALLY
in room 3319.

Directions, agenda, and presenters' bios will also be posted on
the GSLUG website, on the home page and at:

        http://www.gslug.org/meeting.html

Meeting announcements and notices of other GSLUG activities are
posted to the gslug-announce and gslug-general mail lists.  They
are currently not very "heavy traffic" lists and will not blitz your Inbox.
You are invited to join either or both lists at:

        http://lists.gslug.org/mailman/listinfo/gslug-announce

and:

        http://lists.gslug.org/mailman/listinfo/gslug-general

Our new wiki site may be found at:

        http://wiki.gslug.org/

  -- The GSLUG Crew

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