1=head1 NAME 2 3perlcommunity - a brief overview of the Perl community 4 5=head1 DESCRIPTION 6 7This document aims to provide an overview of the vast perl community, which is 8far too large and diverse to provide a detailed listing. If any specific niche 9has been forgotten, it is not meant as an insult but an omission for the sake 10of brevity. 11 12The Perl community is as diverse as Perl, and there is a large amount of 13evidence that the Perl users apply TMTOWTDI to all endeavors, not just 14programming. From websites, to IRC, to mailing lists, there is more than one 15way to get involved in the community. 16 17=head2 Where to Find the Community 18 19There is a central directory for the Perl community: L<http://perl.org> 20maintained by the Perl Foundation (L<http://www.perlfoundation.org/>), 21which tracks and provides services for a variety of other community sites. 22 23=head2 Mailing Lists and Newsgroups 24 25Perl runs on e-mail; there is no doubt about it. The Camel book was originally 26written mostly over e-mail and today Perl's development is co-ordinated through 27mailing lists. The largest repository of Perl mailing lists is located at 28L<http://lists.perl.org>. 29 30Most Perl-related projects set up mailing lists for both users and 31contributors. If you don't see a certain project listed at 32L<http://lists.perl.org>, check the particular website for that project. 33Most mailing lists are archived at L<http://nntp.perl.org/>. 34 35There are also plenty of Perl related newsgroups located under 36C<comp.lang.perl.*>. 37 38=head2 IRC 39 40The Perl community has a rather large IRC presence. For starters, it has its 41own IRC network, L<irc://irc.perl.org>. General (not help-oriented) chat can be 42found at L<irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. Many other more specific chats are also 43hosted on the network. Information about irc.perl.org is located on the 44network's website: L<http://www.irc.perl.org>. For a more help-oriented #perl, 45check out L<irc://irc.freenode.net/#perl>. Perl 6 development also has a 46presence in L<irc://irc.freenode.net/#perl6>. Most Perl-related channels will 47be kind enough to point you in the right direction if you ask nicely. 48 49Any large IRC network (Dalnet, EFnet) is also likely to have a #perl channel, 50with varying activity levels. 51 52=head2 Websites 53 54Perl websites come in a variety of forms, but they fit into two large 55categories: forums and news websites. There are many Perl-related 56websites, so only a few of the community's largest are mentioned here. 57 58=head3 News sites 59 60=over 4 61 62=item L<http://perl.com/> 63 64Run by O'Reilly Media (the publisher of L<the Camel Book|perlbook>, among other 65Perl-related literature), perl.com provides current Perl news, articles, and 66resources for Perl developers as well as a directory of other useful websites. 67 68=item L<http://blogs.perl.org/> 69 70Many members of the community have a Perl-related blog on this site. If 71you'd like to join them, you can sign up for free. 72 73=item L<http://use.perl.org/> 74 75use Perl; used to provide a slashdot-style news/blog website covering all 76things Perl, from minutes of the meetings of the Perl 6 Design team to 77conference announcements with (ir)relevant discussion. It no longer accepts 78updates, but you can still use the site to read old entries and comments. 79 80=back 81 82=head3 Forums 83 84=over 4 85 86=item L<http://www.perlmonks.org/> 87 88PerlMonks is one of the largest Perl forums, and describes itself as "A place 89for individuals to polish, improve, and showcase their Perl skills." and "A 90community which allows everyone to grow and learn from each other." 91 92=item L<http://stackoverflow.com/> 93 94Stack Overflow is a free question-and-answer site for programmers. It's not 95focussed solely on Perl, but it does have an active group of users who do 96their best to help people with their Perl programming questions. 97 98=back 99 100=head2 User Groups 101 102Many cities around the world have local Perl Mongers chapters. A Perl Mongers 103chapter is a local user group which typically holds regular in-person meetings, 104both social and technical; helps organize local conferences, workshops, and 105hackathons; and provides a mailing list or other continual contact method for 106its members to keep in touch. 107 108To find your local Perl Mongers (or PM as they're commonly abbreviated) group 109check the international Perl Mongers directory at L<http://www.pm.org/>. 110 111=head2 Workshops 112 113Perl workshops are, as the name might suggest, workshops where Perl is taught 114in a variety of ways. At the workshops, subjects range from a beginner's 115introduction (such as the Pittsburgh Perl Workshop's "Zero To Perl") to much 116more advanced subjects. 117 118There are several great resources for locating workshops: the 119L<websites|"Websites"> mentioned above, the 120L<calendar|"Calendar of Perl Events"> mentioned below, and the YAPC Europe 121website, L<http://www.yapceurope.org/>, which is probably the best resource for 122European Perl events. 123 124=head2 Hackathons 125 126Hackathons are a very different kind of gathering where Perl hackers gather to 127do just that, hack nonstop for an extended (several day) period on a specific 128project or projects. Information about hackathons can be located in the same 129place as information about L<workshops|"Workshops"> as well as in 130L<irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. 131 132If you have never been to a hackathon, here are a few basic things you need to 133know before attending: have a working laptop and know how to use it; check out 134the involved projects beforehand; have the necessary version control client; 135and bring backup equipment (an extra LAN cable, additional power strips, etc.) 136because someone will forget. 137 138=head2 Conventions 139 140Perl has two major annual conventions: The Perl Conference (now part of OSCON), 141put on by O'Reilly, and Yet Another Perl Conference or YAPC (pronounced 142yap-see), which is localized into several regional YAPCs (North America, 143Europe, Asia) in a stunning grassroots display by the Perl community. For more 144information about either conference, check out their respective web pages: 145OSCON L<http://conferences.oreillynet.com/>; YAPC L<http://www.yapc.org>. 146 147A relatively new conference franchise with a large Perl portion is the 148Open Source Developers Conference or OSDC. First held in Australia it has 149recently also spread to Israel and France. More information can be found at: 150L<http://www.osdc.com.au/> for Australia, L<http://www.osdc.org.il> 151for Israel, and L<http://www.osdc.fr/> for France. 152 153=head2 Calendar of Perl Events 154 155The Perl Review, L<http://www.theperlreview.com> maintains a website 156and Google calendar 157(L<http://www.theperlreview.com/community_calendar>) for tracking 158workshops, hackathons, Perl Mongers meetings, and other events. Views 159of this calendar are at L<http://www.perl.org/events.html> and 160L<http://www.yapc.org>. 161 162Not every event or Perl Mongers group is on that calendar, so don't lose 163heart if you don't see yours posted. To have your event or group listed, 164contact brian d foy (brian@theperlreview.com). 165 166=head1 AUTHOR 167 168Edgar "Trizor" Bering <trizor@gmail.com> 169 170=cut 171