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Summary: If you are serious about your perl, then you need this book.
Review: An excellent selection of perl solutions for a broad range of real-world problems. Puts much of the theory of other books into practice, using well constructed perl snippets. One of the things I like most is that in true tmtowtdi fashion, they often present alternative approaches to the solution.
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Summary: A treasure trove, exceedingly broad if not deep
Review: In my opinion, the best Perl book from O'Reilly since the original "purple Camel." A must-have (or very nearly so) for anyone gaining proficiency in the language. I haven't studied it thoroughly enough to comment on the frequency of typos and other errors, but my overall impression is extremely favorable, and I'm pretty hard to please. :-) My only complaint is that it's another one of those books that is just too darn thick. But otherwise, good work indeed!
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Summary: An excellent book.
Review: This book has more examples and HOWTO's than any of the other perl books. Not only will you learn Perl but it is also a great book on UNIX programming.
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Summary: You should not buy this 1st edition
Review: There are so many errors in the book (about 350 errors). It was said that the book was hurried to meet the deadline (for Perl Conference). I suggest to wait until they fix them in the second edition.
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Summary: The ONLY book that you MUST buy
Review: If you are a programmer who designs code by peeking at other's code,then this book is a must buy.It is loaded with great examples and will save you tremendous amounts of time. No more re-inventing the wheel. This book shows you how to do almost anything with Perl. From regular expressions and text handling to sophisticated security and web utilities, this is the book. If you benefit from example code then this is heaven on earth. A great job Christiansen and Torkington and many thanks to O'Reilly for publishing this book.
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Summary: I Love this Book!
Review: This book's an excellent companion to the Camel book, and I'd recommend it to *anyone* who program's in Perl. I've been programming in perl for over 5 years now, and have been waiting for something like this. The book contains hundreds of very useful, short programs, and excellent explanations. Buy it!
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Summary: Most Useful Perl Book
Review: If this book has a flaw, it's that it's got too much information. Well, maybe I should take that back. There's not too much information. I wish there were more. But as is the case with cookbooks, finding the right recipe is not a simple matter unless you are familiar with the book. But that shouldn't be a significant problem with readers of Perl Cookbook, because all Perl programmers great and small will want to take the large tome and wade around in it, getting their feet wet in the various sections, seeing what it has to offer. At first the sheer size of the book is intimidating: over 750 pages containing 20 chapters, each with 11 to 23 recipes. But each chapter is broken down into a logical topic, and the reader can get a feel for the book by choosing one topic of interest and digesting one recipe at a time. This book is indeed for all types of programmers. Though beginners likely have the most to gain, its recipes are often useful for the experienced, and even expert, programmer who doesn't want to redo what has been done or rethink what has been thunk. I doubt there exists a Perl programmer who won't value it. Perl Cookbook is the most useful Perl book ever written, and it is presented in a comfortable style, carefully explaining the recipes and pointing the readers to resources where they can find more information about the topic at hand. While a Perl programmer can get by without this book -- and in the nearly 11 years since perl was first released, many have done just that, thank you -- he shouldn't have to.
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Summary: Every Perl programmer should have it
Review: In the past, I've had a bad experience with Cookbook-styles. One example would be a "CGI/Perl Cookbook". But this one is nothing like its counterpart. To be able to follow the cookbook, you're expected to have a basic knowledge of Perl, Perl data structures and IO filehandles. The rest is "in order to get there, do like this, because of that" - style. Very easy to follow, very concise and at the same time informative. What you will appreciate the most of this book is, it doesn't just give you a solution, but it also teaches you the solution. The book consists of 20 chapters, each chapter dedicated to a distinct subject, such as Strings, Numbers, Dates and Times, Arrays, Hashes, Pattern Matching, File access, File Contends and so on. Each chapter, consists of smaller sections, called "Receipts". Each receipt is dedicated to a solution of one commonly encountered real-life problem. For example, Receipt 8.6, "Picking a Random Line from a File" introduces the problem , gives a very elegant solution: "rand($.) < 1 && ($line=$_) while <>", and provides a one page exciting description of the algorithm, followed by references. Although I've been involved in Perl extensively for the last 3 years, I still catch myself skimming through the receipts to compare my solutions to that of the book. Frequently I end up discovering something new and exciting. The book is definitely of value. Any Perl programmer should have it.
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Summary: The missing manual from the Camel Book
Review: Invaluable text that offers quick and varied solutions to the most common perl tasks. I like the variety of solutions; generally the first one they suggest is the one of the ideas you'll have had for solving the problem; then they refine it into most robust, idiomatic perl, which means you have the option of learning how the pros do it. Oh, and the index is well laid out, which is absolutely essential in the must-finish-this-program-by-tonite sort of book that this is.
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Summary: Exceptional Book
Review: I consider myself a beginner Perl-hacker. I use Perl to accomplish directly applicable tasks for my work (Logic Designer). I hack as little as needed to get the job done. Having said that, when I have a new problem to solve, this is the first book I peruse for ideas... and more often than not I find something very useful and applicable.
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