Elements of Programming With Perl

Rating:
Summary: Best book (and support) on Perl!
Review: I purchased this book, and like most - there are parts of it that are confusing. But, Andrew (the author) provides a forum by which he is there to answer all your questions. This makes such an outstanding difference. By using his forum, which is fabulous .. you can get clear answers to any qustions you may have related to the material covered in the book. If you've never programmed before, or even if you have ... you'll love the book, the excersizes, AND the support.

Rating:
Summary: Best book (and support) on Perl!
Review: I purchased this book, and like most - there are parts of it that are confusing. But, Andrew (the author) provides a forum by which he is there to answer all your questions. This makes such an outstanding difference. By using his forum, which is fabulous .. you can get clear answers to any qustions you may have related to the material covered in the book. If you've never programmed before, or even if you have ... you'll love the book, the excersizes, AND the support.

Rating:
Summary: If you want to "understand" Perl, this is for you.
Review: I recently got a job at a telecoms company because of my experience with linux. I have no experience whatsoever in programming and they knew that and I was encouraged to learn Perl.

I bought this book after reading many reviews on it both good and bad. It was the bad reviews that told me this was the perfect book for a beginner. I like to think of myself as a person who likes to understand why I do things rather than just doing something because thats how it has always been done. This book did that for me.

Precise explanations of Perl style, syntax and regular expressions more experienced programmers take for granted were a welcome sight. Even though there isn't really a right or wrong way in perl this book teaches you the right way to do things along with the full explanations I required to understand why I was doing something one way and not the other.

The exercises following the chapters are challenging but not daunting. They allow you to use the knowledge you've learned in the previous chapters, even if at first it seems impossible, but to quote the author, "Programming is a matter of practice."

I recommend this to all who are new to programming in general and wish to make Perl their first language. Now all I need is a book on C programming that does the same this one is doing for me.

Yes, I have not read this book completely, yet I have done 3 useful scripts for work and I'm amazing myself. Perl is making my life and my co-workers' much easier.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding for newcomers to programming
Review: I started a new job after college in the field of bioinformatics and have to learn Perl because of its wide use. Johnson is the only author of all the books I reviewed that does not assume prior knowledge of other languages, especially C. There are exercises at the end of each chapter of this book, which are really helpful, and the book is laid out very well. I recommend Elements of Programming with Perl to anyone who wants to learn Perl.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding for newcomers to programming
Review: I started a new job after college in the field of bioinformatics and have to learn Perl because of its wide use. Johnson is the only author of all the books I reviewed that does not assume prior knowledge of other languages, especially C. There are exercises at the end of each chapter of this book, which are really helpful, and the book is laid out very well. I recommend Elements of Programming with Perl to anyone who wants to learn Perl.

Rating:
Summary: THE book to start path to Perl enlightenment
Review: I tried "Learning Perl" by Randal Schwarz and got bored after about 5 chapters ; too many cutesy references to 60's cartoons and not enough relevant info. So I turned to this book and finally started learning Perl. The author doesn't assume you have any programming experience at all ; hence the title. A person who has never programmed before could probably get through this book( but not without some effort) but they will be well rewarded.What is really excellent is that the author has a home page where you can post questions, concerns, whatever and he will respond within 24 hours (almost always) with clear, concise answers. For others who come from other languages and need to learn Perl quickly, this is an excellent tutorial and they will be up to speed in no time. I had to learn Perl quickly for a project I was on at work - within 2 weeks after starting this book I was well on the way to writing scripts using regular expressions.
This book should be thought of as an initial stepping stone on the path to Perl knowledge , so its not as encyclopedic as say the famous Camel book(Programming Perl). After going through this book, doing the exercises, reading and posting on the authors website, you will be very well prepared for more advanced topics in Perl. After this book, I picked up "Object Oriented Perl" by Damian Conway (from same publishing company) and I had no problem at all thanks to the fine intro this book provided me.

Rating:
Summary: THE book to start path to Perl enlightenment
Review: I tried "Learning Perl" by Randal Schwarz and got bored after about 5 chapters ; too many cutesy references to 60's cartoons and not enough relevant info. So I turned to this book and finally started learning Perl. The author doesn't assume you have any programming experience at all ; hence the title. A person who has never programmed before could probably get through this book( but not without some effort) but they will be well rewarded.What is really excellent is that the author has a home page where you can post questions, concerns, whatever and he will respond within 24 hours (almost always) with clear, concise answers. For others who come from other languages and need to learn Perl quickly, this is an excellent tutorial and they will be up to speed in no time. I had to learn Perl quickly for a project I was on at work - within 2 weeks after starting this book I was well on the way to writing scripts using regular expressions.
This book should be thought of as an initial stepping stone on the path to Perl knowledge , so its not as encyclopedic as say the famous Camel book(Programming Perl). After going through this book, doing the exercises, reading and posting on the authors website, you will be very well prepared for more advanced topics in Perl. After this book, I picked up "Object Oriented Perl" by Damian Conway (from same publishing company) and I had no problem at all thanks to the fine intro this book provided me.

Rating:
Summary: This book is more than adequate
Review: It's been a while since I've worked directly with Perl having been working with ASP/Microsoft technologies for the better part of two years. But this book is doing a pretty good job of refreshing myself with PERL. I nearly forget how much fun PERL really is.

Rating:
Summary: Ok for Perl learning, but not for complete newbies
Review: It's strange that the author says he wants to teach non-programmers both programming skills and Perl knowledge, yet he introduces regular expressions, which are some of the most complicated programming concepts even to advanced people, very early in the book. There is very little in the book to motivate someone who's never programmed before, as she will surely be intimated from the very beginning by code examples, pseudo-code listings, and uses of (absent explanations of) concepts completely alien to her.

On the other hand, if the reader already knows something about programming (e.g., what regular expressions are!), and just wants an easy way to get started on Perl, she could benefit from the example-led style of Johnson. The point to keep in mind is, this is not a book for learning programming, but a book for learning Perl. As a Perl intro book, it is more relaxed than, say, "Sam's teach yourself Perl in 24 hours" and less boring than, say, "Learning Perl." I just wish the code examples were explained more clearly.


Rating:
Summary: As a book it's good. As a tutorial, it's the best!
Review: Let me explain ...

I have no programming background other than the fact that I've picked up and tried reading several books on the subject of programming in Perl. (I do know HTML and I am a website developer. I just thought I would tell you this so you would realize where I might be coming from.)

I have purchased most of the books on the market that relate to getting started as a new programmer using Perl. Everything from 'Learn Perl in 24 Hours' .. to the Camel books (which are great for refenece purposes), etc. And if you've tried them, and felt frustrated, let me explain what made this book different for me.

First of all, this book is not written 'perfectly' clear. But then ... I haven't found one that is. But, what makes this book special is the offer and accessibility of the AUTHOR to each of the readers who purchase the book. The author, Andrew Johnson, is everything you could want in a teacher and coach.

With that being said, ... learning to program is not easy. (So, expect to work hard, read a lot, and practice writing code.) And, if you had your preference, you'd probably rather be in a classroom where you could ask questions of your teacher everytime you didn't understand something that was going on.

THAT IS WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK (or should I say TUTORIAL SYSTEM for learning Perl) THE BEST!

Andrew Johnson acts like your teacher and personal coach. He does an excellent job of laying out the information in the book ... as if you were in a classroom. Then, as you read through each chapter ... you will (and let me repeat ... YOU WILL) have questions.

I must say, I go to his online forum often, where I can ask anything I want (relating to the book) that I have a question on. And the answers I get back from him are not quick 'tidbits'. His answers are extremely helpful and written in plain english. JUST LIKE A GOOD TEACHER SHOULD BE!

I can't recommend the book ... AND HIS ASSISTANCE enough! It is absolutely the 'BEST' manner in which to learn PROGRAMMING WITH PERL - from the ground level up!

For about $35 ... you get the book and a TEACHER/COACH to ask questions of. What more could you want?

I am already on chapter 5 and getting more out of this book than all the others I read combined.

Good luck,

Gary M. Gordon Certified Web Developer [e-mail]