Article Index Beginning Perl Going further Page 1 of 2 Chapter 1 starts with the history of the language, covers how to install the binary (with instructions for Linux, Windows and MacOS); how to look up the documentation; where to ask for help online, and ends with the classic "Hello World" example. Chapter 2 is a very detailed guide to CPAN; how to find, evaluate and install modules. The boxouts found almost on every page of the book, placed discreetly in a non obstructive to the main material way, hold extra valuable side notes with background information, advice, warnings and gotchas. It's from Chapter 3 onwards that we get into the language. It begins with very basic concepts, like what a variable is, what can be assigned to it, what the naming rules and valid identifiers are, Perl's data types (scalars, arrays, hashes) and how the notion of Context affects code's behavior. Comprehending the material of this chapter is absolutely essential for progressing to more advanced subjects. In order not to overload the beginner, it avoids introducing too much at once and instead defers getting into depth until the time is right. Saying for example:

"For now, just take my word for it. In Chapter 4, Working With data, you'll learn more about this in a bit more detail when you discover precedence."

or

"Though we've touched on sort, map and grep briefly, we have deliberately kept their usage simple. Now we'll see a bit more about their full power."



