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<https://perl.org> 20maintained by the Perl Foundation (L<https://www.perlfoundation.org/>), 21which tracks and provides services for a variety of other community sites. 22 23=head3 Raku 24 25Perl's sister language, Raku (formerly known as Perl 6), maintains its own 26directory of community resources at L<https://raku.org/community/>. 27 28=head2 Mailing Lists and Newsgroups 29 30Perl runs on e-mail; there is no doubt about it. The Camel book was originally 31written mostly over e-mail and today Perl's development is co-ordinated through 32mailing lists. The largest repository of Perl mailing lists is located at 33L<https://lists.perl.org>. 34 35Most Perl-related projects set up mailing lists for both users and 36contributors. If you don't see a certain project listed at 37L<https://lists.perl.org>, check the particular website for that project. 38Most mailing lists are archived at L<https://www.nntp.perl.org/>. 39 40=head2 IRC 41 42The Perl community has a rather large IRC presence. For starters, it has its 43own IRC network, L<irc://irc.perl.org>. General (not help-oriented) chat can be 44found at L<irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. Many other more specific chats are also 45hosted on the network. Information about irc.perl.org is located on the 46network's website: L<https://www.irc.perl.org>. For a more help-oriented #perl, 47check out L<irc://irc.libera.chat/#perl> 48(L<webchat|https://web.libera.chat/#perl>). Most Perl-related channels 49will be kind enough to point you in the right direction if you ask nicely. 50 51Any large IRC network (Dalnet, EFnet) is also likely to have a #perl channel, 52with varying activity levels. 53 54=head2 Websites 55 56Perl websites come in a variety of forms, but they fit into two large 57categories: forums and news websites. There are many Perl-related 58websites, so only a few of the community's largest are mentioned here. 59 60=head3 News sites 61 62=over 4 63 64=item L<https://perl.com/> 65 66Originally run by O'Reilly Media (the publisher of L<the Camel Book|perlbook>, 67this site provides quality articles mostly about technical details of Perl. 68 69=item L<http://blogs.perl.org/> 70 71Many members of the community have a Perl-related blog on this site. If 72you'd like to join them, you can sign up for free. 73 74=item L<https://perl.theplanetarium.org/> 75 76Planet Perl is one of several aggregators of Perl-related blog feeds. 77 78=item L<https://perlweekly.com/> 79 80Perl Weekly is a weekly mailing list that keeps you up to date on conferences, 81releases and notable blog posts. 82 83=back 84 85=head3 Forums 86 87=over 4 88 89=item L<https://www.perlmonks.org/> 90 91PerlMonks is one of the largest Perl forums, and describes itself as "A place 92for individuals to polish, improve, and showcase their Perl skills." and "A 93community which allows everyone to grow and learn from each other." 94 95=item L<https://stackoverflow.com/> 96 97Stack Overflow is a free question-and-answer site for programmers. It's not 98focussed solely on Perl, but it does have an active group of users who do 99their best to help people with their Perl programming questions. 100 101=item L<http://prepan.org/> 102 103PrePAN is used as a place to discuss modules that you're considering uploading 104to the CPAN. You can get feedback on their design before you upload. 105 106=back 107 108=head2 User Groups 109 110Many cities around the world have local Perl Mongers chapters. A Perl Mongers 111chapter is a local user group which typically holds regular in-person meetings, 112both social and technical; helps organize local conferences, workshops, and 113hackathons; and provides a mailing list or other continual contact method for 114its members to keep in touch. 115 116To find your local Perl Mongers (or PM as they're commonly abbreviated) group 117check the international Perl Mongers directory at L<https://www.pm.org/>. 118 119=head2 Workshops 120 121Perl workshops are, as the name might suggest, workshops where Perl is taught 122in a variety of ways. At the workshops, subjects range from a beginner's 123introduction (such as the Pittsburgh Perl Workshop's "Zero To Perl") to much 124more advanced subjects. 125 126There are several great resources for locating workshops: the 127L<websites|"Websites"> mentioned above, the 128L<calendar|"Calendar of Perl Events"> mentioned below, and the YAPC Europe 129website, L<http://www.yapceurope.org/>, which is probably the best resource for 130European Perl events. 131 132=head2 Hackathons 133 134Hackathons are a very different kind of gathering where Perl hackers gather to 135do just that, hack nonstop for an extended (several day) period on a specific 136project or projects. Information about hackathons can be located in the same 137place as information about L<workshops|"Workshops"> as well as in 138L<irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. 139 140If you have never been to a hackathon, here are a few basic things you need to 141know before attending: have a working laptop and know how to use it; check out 142the involved projects beforehand; have the necessary version control client; 143and bring backup equipment (an extra LAN cable, additional power strips, etc.) 144because someone will forget. 145 146=head2 Conventions 147 148Perl had two major annual conventions: The Perl Conference (now part of OSCON), 149put on by O'Reilly, and Yet Another Perl Conference or YAPC (pronounced 150yap-see), which is localized into several regional YAPCs (North America, 151Europe, Asia) in a stunning grassroots display by the Perl community. 152 153In 2016, YAPC was rebranded as The Perl Conference again. It is now referred 154to as The Perl and Raku Conference. 155 156OSCON had been discontinued. 157 158For more information about either conference, check out their respective web 159pages: 160 161=over 4 162 163=item * The Perl Conference 164 165L<http://perlconference.us/>. 166 167=item * OSCON 168 169L<https://www.oreilly.com/conferences/> 170 171=back 172 173An additional conference franchise with a large Perl portion was the 174Open Source Developers Conference or OSDC. First held in Australia, it 175also spread to Israel and France. More information can be found at: 176L<http://www.osdc.org.il> for Israel, and L<http://www.osdc.fr/> for France. 177 178=head2 Calendar of Perl Events 179 180The Perl Review, L<http://www.theperlreview.com> maintains a website 181and Google calendar for tracking 182workshops, hackathons, Perl Mongers meetings, and other events. A view 183of this calendar is available at L<https://www.perl.org/events.html>. 184 185Not every event or Perl Mongers group is on that calendar, so don't lose 186heart if you don't see yours posted. To have your event or group listed, 187contact brian d foy (brian@theperlreview.com). 188 189=head1 AUTHOR 190 191Edgar "Trizor" Bering <trizor@gmail.com> 192 193=cut 194