Perl

Perl is a scripting language particularly suited for tasks such as scanning arbitrary text files, extracting information from those text files, and printing reports based on that information.

There are two major variants, perl4 and perl5. Perl5 adds a variety of features, the most obvious of which are object-oriented features.

Mailing lists and newsgroups

The newsgroup for general discussion of perl is comp.lang.perl.misc. Other groups in comp.lang.perl.* cover specific perl-related topics.

Getting perl

I suppose we need to make an explicit disclaimer that the distributions listed below are not supported by Cyclic. In most cases we are just redistributing or linking to a distribution provided by someone else, and didn't even help write any of it.

Most linux distributions include perl.

See the web sites below for information about downloading perl, including perl for Windows.

Paid Support

Consulting, training, and support is available from various people at perl.com, according to their web site.

For more information

The book Programming Perl, better known as the Camel Book, covers perl in depth. There are some errata at perl.com.

The book Learning Perl, by Randal L. Schwartz and Tom Christiansen, teaches you to program in perl.

The book Learning Perl on Win32 Systems, by Randal L. Schwartz, Erik Olson, and Tom Christiansen, teaches you to program in perl, with additional information on Windows-specific topics, such as access to OLE Automation and the Registry.

The web site perl.com includes lists of features, information on add-on packages for perl, and much more.

The Perl Journal has several products for sale, most notably a magazine (hence the name) and more importantly Magnetic Perl Poetry Kits.