[Za-pm] Programming perl

[Anne Wainwright]

Hello,

you should know that I was once classified on a Paradox group as a
'casual programmer', and I have been satisfied with that appelation
ever since. Since my Sinclair days I have enjoyed dabbling with
computers and bending them to my will.

I also enjoy books, buy them non-stop, collect them like crazy. In a
bookshop recently I came across

Larry Wall & Randal L. Schwartz. PROGRAMMING PERL
January 1991 1st Printing. Complete with loose foldout 16pp reference
guide.

Not a copy listed anywhere outside of the US and I find it in a remote
corner of the Eastern Cape for R20 (got a discount on that too!). I
wonder whose it was.

Let me share a couple of snippets from this. First, from the rear cover,

"This is the authoritative guide to the hottest new UNIX utility in
years, coauthored by the creator of that utility"

"Perl is a language for easy manipulating text, files and processes.
Perl provides a more concise and readable way to do many jobs that were
formerly accomplished (with difficulty) by programming in the C
language or one of the shells. Even though Perl is not yet a standard
part of UNIX it is likely to be available at any UNIX site. And if it
isn't, users can get it and install it easily and free of charge."

Well it's come a long way since then!

The first sentence above is also the first sentence in the first
chapter, which for some reason is entitled 'Perl In A Nutshell'!

The contact details for O'Reilly include a UUCP address uunet!ora!nuts
and the email address nuts at ora.com . ora.com aliases still to
oreilly.com . I might even get an answer to my email it hasn't bounced
back yet!

A look through the chapters 'Common Tasks With Perl' and 'Real Perl
Programmes' is an insight into the administrators world with such
things as password-choosing programmes and a retab programme to prevent
tabbed code from falling off the right of the screen.

Maybe it is all very well coming into a language like perl when it is
well developed, but I think a read of this will give me food for
thought. If nothing else, current 'perl best practice' tips from James
will take a knock! Grassroots is a favourite buzzword here in ZA, but
maybe going back to check them out can be worthwhile.

Just thought I'd share this with you. And just in case you feel
tempted, not for sale at any price! I only need a trip to Sebastopol to
get it signed by Larry Wall and I can be really happy at my treasure.

bestest
Anne