Length: 2 Days

OVERVIEW
This hands-on technical training is accomplishment-oriented providing attendees with real-life examples. The workshop teaches the foundations of Perl programming through a series of case studies and practical examples. Upon completion of the workshop, attendees will be able to write Perl programs of their own.

Attendees will construct a realistic data processing package for a business. The essential components of the language are introduced as they are used for data management, entry, and reporting.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

This course is for programmers who want to add Perl to their repertory of languages. System and network administrators, application programmers, authors of Web forms and advanced Web applications, Web masters, Web developers and planners, and client-server developers. Experience programming in other languages is assumed.

PRE-REQUISITES

  • Some programming experience: (any language is ok)
  • Use of a text editor (any editor is acceptable)
  • Familiarity with the programming platform
  • Fundamentals of shell programming (or at least a smattering of)
  • Basic notions of i/o in Unix and/or NT

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES

It teaches these essential Perl skills:

  • write and run Perl scripts, on Unix or NT
  • perform I/O using Perl’s control structures
  • process a variety of data and file types
  • use Perl’s built-in variables and operators
  • write object-oriented Perl code
  • handle errors, generate messages, terminate gracefully
  • use Perl’s debugger.

DETAILED OBJECTIVES

Attendees will practice and learn to:

  • grasp the syntax of Perl
  • invoke Perl
  • interact with users through standard I/O
  • do file I/O
  • use various built-in functions
  • embed comments in your code
  • write loops, branches, and related control structures
  • process text in a variety of powerful ways
  • find, compare, and modify strings
  • process list variables
  • process arrays
  • use regular expressions and the associated Perl operators
  • use special features of Perl 5
  • process command-line arguments
  • use Perl’s special built-in variables
  • write modular code (subroutines and structure)
  • grasp issues of Perl programming style
  • apply the notion of scope
  • generate attractively-formatted output
  • use boolean operators
  • pipe to Unix utilities
  • use associative arrays
  • make your programs robust
  • handle errors, generate messages, terminate gracefully
  • use Perl’s debugger

MATERIALS
All attendees will receive a workbook.