Perl Hosting

The Perl perl programming language is one of the most flexible and robust ever developed, and in order to get the most out of Perl, you should make yourself familiar with some of the core commands of the language. Lets take a look at how to print and read files.

You can print to your standard output like this:

print “Hello, World!n”;

But the print command can also accept a file-handle, which we generate when opening a file.

open FILE, ‘>file.html’;

Immediately following the “open” command Read More »

Perl is a programming language developed by computer programmer Larry Wall in 1987. It was first used as a Unix scripting language, but has since undergone several transformations to become one of the most popular programming languages. It is now used for a variety of tasks, ranging from system administration to web development. A Perl script or program is made up of one or more statements, which are written in the script in a straightforward manner.

Today, sites like Amazon.com, bbc.co.uk, Priceline.com, Craigslist and IMDb use Perl. It has even been used for other tasks like creating computer games, flight simulators and automated web photo galleries.

But how can you learn it?

There are several ways to start.

There are many web resources to use, starting with learn.perl.org. This site gives you a beginner’s breakdown of Perl, including directions on how to install it, basic programming practices, frequently asked questions and more. According to the website, there are also more than 107,000 modules ready for you to use. Perl modules are a set of related functions in a library file, designed to be reusable by other modules or programs.

The good news is that if you want to use Perl, it is compatible with any operating system – Unix, Windows, Apple – and with any Internet connection – cable, DSL or high speed satellite internet service.

Web service involves a standard of communication between two electronic devices that exchange data information over the web with each other. Perl is a script format that simplifies this process. One reason why many web programmers prefer Perl is because it is very efficient at reading specific programming codes. It is imperative that any scripting language be able to interpret codes correctly by displaying accurate HTML to an Internet user’s Web browser.

The advantage of using Read More »

Functional decomposition can play an important role in many programming environments. While Perl is a relatively simple programming language, it’s possible to build high-level programs using its included tools. While proper commenting and clear organization are important in any programming environment, it can be difficult to understand how some programs work. Many programmers in a new job or working with an existing program can have problems understanding how a particular piece of code work. The following guide explains how to break down an application using functional decomposition.

Functional decomposition allows an individual to look at each aspect of a Read More »

When it comes to loop structures, Perl is an extremely versatile programming language. It offers not just one, but several different types of unique loop structures that you can choose from, depending on the type of looping logic your script requires:

For Loop
This is your typical for loop that iterates using a counter.
Eg) for ($roomnumber=1;$roomnumber< =100;$roomnumber++) { ... }

While Loop

This loop evaluates a condition and ONLY executes the commands within the loop IF a certain condition is met BEFORE entering the loop.Didn’t catch that? Read More »

Inasmuch as Perl offers a great deal of flexibility in terms of the way you write your code, there a number of ways you can optimize it to be more concise, more legible, and more efficient. Of course, as a programmer, it is imperative that you learn to make the distinction between optimizing code to be more concise versus optimizing code simply because you are too lazy to type it out!

One such example is Perl’s ability to operate on the most recent variable name that was invoked, without having to reference it again, using the $_ symbol.

Another example would Read More »

The Beginning

The launch PERL took place around December 18, 1987 introduced as a Practical Extraction Reporting Language (PERL.) Larry Wall (Wall) was the author of the programming language working at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratories. During this time, Wall was also working with UNIX creating utilities that would expand the range of use for the operating system. PERL interfaced with the UNIX operating system to result in a powerful expression engine that would later become the kernel for all PERL programming. PERL is the oldest, and conventionally more powerful than Read More »