Herong's Tutorial Notes on Perl - Part A

Version 4.09

Dr. Herong Yang

Copyright © 1995 - 2006 by Dr. Herong Yang. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

About This Book

Perl on Linux

• Installing Perl on Linux
• Running Perl on Linux

ActivePerl

• Installing ActivePerl v5.6.1
• Running ActivePerl

perldata - Perl Data Types

• Data Types and Variables
• Scalar Value Constructors
• Scalar Object Interpretations
• List Value Constructors

perlsub - Perl Subroutines

• Perl Subroutine Rules
• SubParamList.pl - Example on Parameter List
• SubParamAlias.pl - Example on Parameter Passing
• SubReturnValue.pl - Example on Return Values
• SubCalling.pl - Example on Calling Format

perldebug - Perl Debug

• Perl Buit-in Debugging Tool
• Example Debugging Session

perlmod - Perl Modules

• Including Source Codes from Other Files
• Using "package" to Create New Name Spaces
• Special Subroutines for Compilation and Execution Processes
• Defining and Using Perl Modules
• A Simple Sample Module - CalendarModule.pm

perlref - Perl References and Nested Data Structures

• Symbolic References
• Creating Hard References
• Using Hard References

perlobj - Perl Objects

• Basic Concepts of Classes and Objects
• Invoking Package Subroutines as Class Methods
• Invoking Package Subroutines as Object Methods
• Using Package Level Variables as Class Variables
• Using Hash Entries to Store Object Variables
• Using new() Method to Create Objects

Typeglob and Package Exporter

• Typeglob, Symbolic Table and Identifier Aliases
• Accessing Variables from Other Packages as Aliases
• Package Exporter

Working with Strings

• Simple String Related Functions

Input to and Output from Perl Programs

• Opening File Handles for Input and Output
• Printing Output to a File Handle
• Reading Input from a File Handle

Input and Output in Binary Mode

• Opening Files for Binary Input
• Opening Files for Binary Output
• Copy Binary Files - Copy.pl
• Converting Binary Data to Hex Numbers - Bin2Hex.pl

Reading Directory Entries

• Directory Accessing Functions
• Sample Program - opendir.pl
• Displaying Directory Tree - DirTree.pl
• Counting Files - DirCount.pl
• Searching Files - DirGrep.pl

Working with File Systems

• Working with the Directory Tree
• File Test Operators
• Statistics of a File

Converting Perl Scripts to Executables

• Why Converting Perl Scripts to Executables
• Installing Perl Dev Kit (PDK)
• Running PDK PerlApp

Working with DBM Files

• Opening DBM Files with Hash Objects
• DBM Example - English French Dictionary
• DBM Example - Book Table

Accessing MySQL from Perl Programs

• Installing Perl Database Driver for MySQL
• HelloMySQL.pl - My First Perl Program with MySQL

String Performance

• Perl Test Program - SubstringTest.pl
• Java Test Program - SubstringTest.java

References

Key Words: binary file, book, CGI, class, client server, DBM file, debug, directory handle, example, file handle, file test, free, function, hard reference, IIS, Internet, language, Linux, module, MySQL, name space, object, object method, online, open directory, open file, package, Perl, regular expression, RPC::XML, sample codes, SOAP, SOAP::Lite, socket communication, soft reference, split, subroutine, performance, TCP, tutorial, XML, XML-RPC, XML::Simple