Lines Matching full:perl

3 perlfaq1 - General Questions About Perl
12 about Perl.
14 =head2 What is Perl?
16 Perl is a high-level programming language with an eclectic heritage
19 Perl's process, file, and text manipulation facilities make it
24 Perl derives from the ubiquitous C programming language and to a
30 managers and many other people also use Perl.
32 =head2 Who supports Perl? Who develops it? Why is it free?
35 beliefs of Perl's author, Larry Wall, gave rise to the free and open
36 distribution policy of Perl. Perl is supported by its users. The
37 core, the standard Perl library, the optional modules, and the
40 The core development team (known as the Perl Porters)
44 L<archives|http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/>
46 perl5-porters-subscribe@perl.org a subscription request
49 While the GNU project includes Perl in its distributions, there's no
50 such thing as "GNU Perl". Perl is not produced nor maintained by the
51 Free Software Foundation. Perl's licensing terms are also more open
54 You can get commercial support of Perl if you wish, although for most
56 "Where can I buy a commercial version of Perl?" for more information.
58 =head2 Which version of Perl should I use?
73 If things aren't broken, upgrading perl may break them (or at least issue
78 The latest versions of perl have more bug fixes.
82 The latest versions of perl may contain performance improvements and
84 in perl since perl5 was first introduced.
88 The Perl community is geared toward supporting the most recent releases,
93 Older versions of perl may have security vulnerabilities, some of which
95 L<CVEs|https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=Perl> for more
112 There are really two tracks of perl development: a maintenance version
121 You can consult L<releases|http://dev.perl.org/perl5> to determine the
122 current stable release of Perl.
126 =head2 What is Raku (Perl 6)?
128 Raku (formerly known as Perl 6) was I<originally> described as the community's
129 rewrite of Perl, however as the language evolved, it became clear that it is
130 a separate language, but in the same language family as Perl.
132 Raku is not intended primarily as a replacement for Perl, but as its
133 own thing - and libraries exist to allow you to call Perl code from Raku
136 Contrary to popular belief, Raku and Perl peacefully coexist with one
138 using Perl (the L<Moose> object system is a well-known example). There is
140 and borrowing that have been instrumental to Perl's success.
147 =head2 How stable is Perl?
153 The Perl development team occasionally make changes to the
157 =head2 How often are new versions of Perl released?
159 Recently, the plan has been to release a new version of Perl roughly every
167 a development version of Perl.
169 The Perl development team are called Perl 5 Porters, and their
170 organization is described at L<http://perldoc.perl.org/perlpolicy.html>.
174 =head2 Is Perl difficult to learn?
176 No, Perl is easy to start L<learning|http://learn.perl.org/> --and easy to keep learning. It looks
181 Most tasks only require a small subset of the Perl language. One of
182 the guiding mottos for Perl development is "there's more than one way
183 to do it" (TMTOWTDI, sometimes pronounced "tim toady"). Perl's
187 Finally, because Perl is frequently (but not always, and certainly not by
193 Things that make Perl easier to learn: Unix experience, almost any kind
197 usually available for free. Don't forget Perl modules, either.
201 =head2 How does Perl compare with other languages like Java, Python, REXX, Scheme, or Tcl?
203 Perl can be used for almost any coding problem, even ones which require
205 be used well or badly. Perl has many strengths, and a few weaknesses,
210 and L<community|http://www.perl.org/community.html> which surrounds it.
217 =head2 Can I do [task] in Perl?
219 Perl is flexible and extensible enough for you to use on virtually any
222 For many people, Perl serves as a great replacement for shell scripting.
225 up to you (and possibly your management) which tasks you'll use Perl
229 of it available as just another Perl function or variable using a Perl
231 perl interpreter. You can also go the other direction, and write your
232 main program in C or C++, and then link in some Perl code on the fly,
237 convenient for certain kinds of problems. Perl tries to be all things
241 =head2 When shouldn't I program in Perl?
248 If you find that you need to speed up a specific part of a Perl
250 but you can access this from your Perl code with L<perlxs>.
252 =head2 What's the difference between "perl" and "Perl"?
254 "Perl" is the name of the language. Only the "P" is capitalized.
255 The name of the interpreter (the program which runs the Perl script)
256 is "perl" with a lowercase "p".
258 You may or may not choose to follow this usage. But never write "PERL",
259 because perl is not an acronym.
265 JAPH stands for "Just another Perl hacker,", which Randal Schwartz used
268 so to distinguish his JAPH, he started to write them as Perl programs:
270     print "Just another Perl hacker,";
279 =head2 How can I convince others to use Perl?
283 Appeal to their self interest! If Perl is new (and thus scary) to them,
284 find something that Perl can do to solve one of their problems. That
285 might mean that Perl either saves them something (time, headaches, money)
290 better, and stronger through Perl, you'll deliver more value. Remember,
293 choice and how Perl might satisfy that requirement.
295 You don't have to worry about finding or paying for Perl; it's freely
296 available and several popular operating systems come with Perl. Community
298 and the various Perl mailing lists ( L<http://lists.perl.org> ) means that
301 Finally, keep in mind that Perl might not be the right tool for every
305 to your choice of Perl since any choice has trade-offs.
311 =item * L<http://www.perl.org/about.html>
323 under the same terms as Perl itself.