http://perl.about.com/ Get the latest headlines from the About.com http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hh http://www.about.com/ 118 20 en-us 2011-12-30T06:37:41Z Fri, 30 Dec 2011 06:37:41 +0000 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://perl.about.com/b/2012/01/03/calculate-perl-string-length.htm <p><img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/perl/1/0/P/-/-/-/perlstringlength.jpg" alt="Perl 6 Camelia logo" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="right" /></p> <p>One of the most common things you might want to do is calculate Perl string length. For instance, you might ask the user to enter some text and want to make sure that they haven't entered too much or too little. Piece of cake. Just use <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/od/programmingperl/qt/perllength.htm">Perl's length() function.</a></p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/b/2012/01/03/calculate-perl-string-length.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://perl.about.com/b/2012/01/03/calculate-perl-string-length.htm Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:11:49 +0000 2012-01-03T16:11:49Z http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/30/comparing-two-values-in-perl.htm <p>Unless you know in advance exactly what values your Perl programs are going to deal with, then at some point you're going to need to test one value against another. For instance, you might want to display a simple "Continue? (Y/N)" message to your user. If they enter 'Y' you will perform some processing. If they enter 'N' your program should exit.</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/30/comparing-two-values-in-perl.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/30/comparing-two-values-in-perl.htm Fri, 30 Dec 2011 06:37:41 +0000 2011-12-30T06:37:41Z http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/30/perl-6-coding-contest.htm <p><img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/perl/1/0/O/-/-/-/camelia-logo.png" alt="Perl 6 Camelia logo" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="left" /></p> <p>What's that you say? Perl 6 hasn't been released yet?</p> <p>Well, of course, you're right. Perl creator <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/od/perlglossary/g/Larry-Wall.htm">Larry Wall</a> has been telling people at just about every Perl conference over the last couple of years that Perl 6 will be out "by Christmas". Of course, he never told us <em>which</em> Christmas!</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/30/perl-6-coding-contest.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/30/perl-6-coding-contest.htm Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:13:31 +0000 2011-12-30T05:13:31Z http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/30/other-things-you-can-do-with-perl-strings.htm <p><img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/perl/1/0/N/-/-/-/maneatingperls.jpg" alt="Perl String Manipulation" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="right" /></p> <p>Ok, so we're <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/17/become-a-regular-expression-ninja.htm">focusing on regular expressions</a> over the next couple of weeks. But let's not forget all the other things you can do with Perl strings.</p> <p>Perl is famous for its ability to parse text. In fact it was designed initially as a text manipulation language. Creator <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/od/perlglossary/g/Larry-Wall.htm">Larry Wall's</a> main objective in creating Perl was to make it simpler for programmers to extract and format text by combining all the things he liked about <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://linux.about.com/od/commands/l/blcmdl1_sed.htm">sed</a>, <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://linux.about.com/library/cmd/blcmdl1_awk.htm">awk</a>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/30/other-things-you-can-do-with-perl-strings.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/30/other-things-you-can-do-with-perl-strings.htm Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:46:39 +0000 2011-12-30T04:46:39Z http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/17/become-a-regular-expression-ninja.htm <p><img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/perl/1/0/L/-/-/-/PerlRegEx.png" alt="Mars the Red Planet" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="left" /></p> <p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/od/regularexpressions/g/Regular-Expressions.">Regular expressions</a>. You either love them, or hate them. But normally, if you hate them, it's probably because you've never taken the time to get to know them. And I can understand why.</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/17/become-a-regular-expression-ninja.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/17/become-a-regular-expression-ninja.htm Sat, 17 Dec 2011 15:27:24 +0000 2011-12-17T15:27:24Z http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/12/perl-is-out-of-this-world.htm <p><img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/perl/1/0/K/-/-/-/mars.jpg" alt="Mars the Red Planet" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="right" /></p> <p>The <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://space.about.com/b/2011/12/04/curiosity-on-its-way-to-mars.htm">Mars Curiosity Rover</a> is now hurtling through space on its way to the <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://space.about.com/cs/solarsystem/p/marsinfo.htm">Red Planet</a>. After a mind-boggling 350 million mile journey, Curiosity is destined for arrival approximately 8.5 months from now.</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/12/perl-is-out-of-this-world.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/12/perl-is-out-of-this-world.htm Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:02:11 +0000 2011-12-12T18:02:11Z http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/08/is-perl-old-fashioned.htm <p><img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/perl/1/0/I/-/-/-/spac0130.jpg" alt="Picture of old computer" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="left" /></p> <p>Many people I speak to express surprise that I'm still passionate about Perl after all these years. Hasn't it been replaced by more "modern" languages such as Ruby or Python?</p> <p>The answer is a resounding no! Perl is out there being used for an extraordinarily diverse range of applications. The reason Perl doesn't get as much attention as it deserves is that it's very much a "glue" language - providing a way of linking applications written in other languages together and being used to write utilities quickly and succinctly which systems can use for input, output or intermediate processing.</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/08/is-perl-old-fashioned.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/08/is-perl-old-fashioned.htm Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:15:17 +0000 2011-12-08T18:15:17Z http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/08/what-your-manager-needs-to-know-about-perl.htm <p><img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/perl/1/0/J/-/-/-/mgrkeyb.jpg" alt="Perl for managers" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="right" /></p> <p>Do you want to use Perl at work? Having trouble convincing your manager that Perl is the best tool for the job?</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/08/what-your-manager-needs-to-know-about-perl.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://perl.about.com/b/2011/12/08/what-your-manager-needs-to-know-about-perl.htm Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:15:17 +0000 2011-12-08T18:15:17Z http://perl.about.com/b/2008/09/21/how-to-read-character-information-from-the-world-of-warcraft-servers.htm <p>Let's say that you, like me, are addicted to World of Warcraft, and you decide that you'd like to track the progress of your characters, or maybe your friends' characters, on your personal website.</p>...<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://perl.about.com/b/2008/09/21/how-to-read-character-information-from-the-world-of-warcraft-servers.htm">Read Full Post</a></p> http://perl.about.com/b/2008/09/21/how-to-read-character-information-from-the-world-of-warcraft-servers.htm Sun, 21 Sep 2008 09:34:33 +0000 2008-09-21T09:34:33Z http://perl.about.com/b/2008/09/19/a-pragmatic-approach-to-writing-a-mp3-crawler-in-perl.htm <p>"Pragmatic" can often mean "boring" -- but this in-depth look at building a web crawler in Perl is not boring at all. In fact, it's informative and a great example of a truly useful Perl application. Check out this fantastic tutorial from perlhobby: <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://code.google.com/p/perlhobby/wiki/architecture_of_music_crawler">A pragmatic approach to writing a mp3 crawler in perl.</a></p> http://perl.about.com/b/2008/09/19/a-pragmatic-approach-to-writing-a-mp3-crawler-in-perl.htm Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:03:46 +0000 2008-09-19T02:03:46Z