Programming Perl

Goals

This course teaches tools and techniques used to write programs in Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language). Perl is a multi-purpose scripting language widely used for systems administration tasks and for web-based applications development. It is available on Unix and Windows platforms. By the end of the course, participants will have a thorough understanding of basic and intermediate Perl concepts and will have been exposed to advanced Perl topics such as object-oriented programming and client/server programming.

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

• Create Perl-based software tools and prototypes
• Automate common tasks, including those that are difficult in shell scripts
• Manage files, databases, processes
• Apply Perl in Web CGI scripts and network applications

Audience

Experienced Unix or Windows users, systems administrators, and developers who wish to learn the Perl programming language.

Duration

Prerequisites

The "UNIX Operating System" course or equivalent experience is required. A working knowledge of the C or another programming language is helpful.

Contents

• Introduction to Perl
• Brief description
• Advantages over shell
• Advantages over C programs
• Perl Basics
• Data types
• Assignments and basic operations
• Output mechanism
• Lists and Arrays
• Lists
• Variables
• Context
• Operators
• Control Structures
• Logical value of an expression
• Selection
• Logical operators
• Repetition
• List processing
• Pattern Capabilities
• Regular expressions
• Extensions
• Searching
• Substitutions and translations
• Related operators
• Files and I/O
• File handles
• File tests
• Settings
• Directory operations
• Tools
• Formats
• Field holders
• Functions
• System calls
• Object-Oriented Perl
• References
• Object creation
• Object use
• Network Programming
• Socket overview
• Modules for network programming
• Writing server applications
• Writing client applications
• Perl for the Web
• HTML forms overview
• The CGI.pm module

Format

Schedule