Perl Scripting

Course Overview

Perl is a scripting language which allows for rapid prototyping of projects formerly done with a programming language or a shell. It incorporates all the functionality of C (including a UNIX system interface), the Shells, grep, sed, and awk. The topics in the course will aid all computer users – from end user to programmer to administrator alike.

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Course Details

Programming in PERL: Basic/Intermediate

– Overview of PERL and its purpose

– History of PERL

– Control capabilities: files, processes, network

– Obtain, build, and install PERL

– Obtaining modules from CPAN

– Writing PERL Scripts

– Layout of a PERL procedure

– Execution methods

– Types of variables: scalars, lists (arrays), associative arrays (hashes), PERL built-ins, globals

– Operators: precedence, arithmetic, increment/decrement, pattern matching, relational, conditional,assignment

– PERL Programming Constructs: Looping statements and Decision

– Regular expressions review

– Expressions common to PERL/Unix

– Expressions unique to PERL

– PERL File I/O

– Interfacing PERL with the Operating System

– Subroutines in PERL procedures

– Using as functions

– Passing arguments (scalars and arrays)

– Introduction to references

– Using PERL Extension Functions: procedure location, extension types, require statement, use statement

Programming in PERL: Advanced Topics

– Using PERL References

– Purpose of references

– Querying a reference

– Symbolic references

– References to functions: named functions, anonymous functions, callbacks

– Multi-dimensional arrays

– Complex data structures

– Using PERL Typeglobs

– PERL variables, symbol tables, and scope

– Typeglobs compared with references

– PERL Modules and Packages

– Basic packages

– Packages and component files

– Initialization and destruction

– Accessing the symbol table

– Preparing a package for distribution with h2xs

– Object Oriented PERL Programming

– Objects in PERL

– Inheritance

– Argument passing

– Methods of Persistance

– pm / Storable.pm / MLDBM.pm

– DBI (Database Interface)

– PERL Scripts for

– Networking with Sockets

– Server-side functions and setup

– Client-side functions and setup

– Installing PERL modules from the CPAN

– Adding documentation to a module/program

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