Intermediate Perl, 2nd Edition

This book picks up right where Learning Perl leaves off. With Intermediate Perl, you’ll graduate from short scripts to much larger programs, using features that make Perl a general-purpose language. This gentle but thorough guide introduces you to modules, complex data structures, and object-oriented programming.

Each chapter is small enough to be read in just an hour or two, ending with exercises to help you practice what you’ve learned. If you’re familiar with the material in Learning Perl and have the ambition to go further, Intermediate Perl will teach you most of the core Perl language concepts you need for writing robust programs on any platform.

Topics include:

• Packages and namespaces
• References and scoping, including regular expression references
• Manipulating complex data structures
• Object-oriented programming
• Writing and using modules
• Testing Perl code
• Contributing to CPAN

Just like Learning Perl, material in this book closely follows the popular introductory Perl course the authors have taught since 1991. This second edition covers recent changes to the language up to version 5.14.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Using Modules
Chapter 3. Intermediate Foundations
Chapter 4. Introduction to References
Chapter 5. References and Scoping
Chapter 6. Manipulating Complex Data Structures
Chapter 7. Subroutine References
Chapter 8. Filehandle References
Chapter 9. Regular Expression References
Chapter 10. Practical Reference Tricks
Chapter 11. Building Larger Programs
Chapter 12. Creating Your Own Perl Distribution
Chapter 13. Introduction to Objects
Chapter 14. Introduction to Testing
Chapter 15. Objects with Data
Chapter 16. Some Advanced Object Topics
Chapter 17. Exporter
Chapter 18. Object Destruction
Chapter 19. Introduction to Moose
Chapter 20. Advanced Testing
Chapter 21. Contributing to CPAN
Appendix. Answers to Exercises