Computer Science Perl Programming

These are the best and most timeless articles printed in "The Perl Journal." Topics include networking, software development, coding style, internals, and others.

A perfect companion to Computer Science Illuminated or Concepts in Computing, as well as an excellent primer, Perl: The Programming Language offers a clear introduction to this practical language. Perl has been known to be the all-purpose tool in programming and system administration. This overview describes the fundamentals of this efficient open-source programming system. Beginning programmers will be relieved this dynamic language is not only easy to learn but easy to implement as well.

Many programmers would love to use Perl for projects that involve heavy lifting, but miss the many traditional algorithms that textbooks teach for other languages. Computer scientists have identified many techniques that a wide range of programs need, such as: Fuzzy pattern matching for text (identify misspellings!) Finding correlations in data Game-playing algorithms Predicting phenomena such as Web traffic Polynomial and spline fitting Using algorithms explained in this book, you too can carry out traditional programming tasks in a high-powered, efficient, easy-to-maintain manner with Perl.This book assumes a basic understanding of Perl syntax and functions, but not necessarily any background in computer science. The authors explain in a readable fashion the reasons for using various classic programming techniques, the kind of applications that use them, and -- most important -- how to code these algorithms in Perl.If you are an amateur programmer, this book will fill you in on the essential algorithms you need to solve problems like an expert. If you have already learned algorithms in other languages, you will be surprised at how much different (and often easier) it is to implement them in Perl. And yes, the book even has the obligatory fractal display program.There have been dozens of books on programming algorithms, some of them excellent, but never before has there been one that uses Perl.The authors include the editor of The Perl Journal and master librarian of CPAN; all are contributors to CPAN and have archived much of the code in this book there."This book was so exciting I lost sleep reading it." Tom Christiansen

Want to learn how to program and think like a computer scientist? This practical guide gets you started on your programming journey with the help of Perl 6, the younger sister of the popular Perl programming language. Ideal for beginners, this hands-on book includes over 100 exercises with multiple solutions, and more than 1,000 code examples so you can quickly practice what you learn. Experienced programmers—especially those who know Perl 5—will also benefit. Divided into two parts, Think Perl 6 starts with basic concepts that every programmer needs to know, and then focuses on different programming paradigms and some more advanced programming techniques. With two semesters’ worth of lessons, this book is the perfect teaching tool for computer science beginners in colleges and universities. Learn basic concepts including variables, expressions, statements, functions, conditionals, recursion, and loops Understand commonly used basic data structures and the most useful algorithms Dive into object-oriented programming, and learn how to construct your own types and methods to extend the language Use grammars and regular expressions to analyze textual content Explore how functional programming can help you make your code simpler and more expressive

Many programmers would love to use Perl for projects that involve heavy lifting, but miss the many traditional algorithms that textbooks teach for other languages. Computer scientists have identified many techniques that a wide range of programs need, such as: Fuzzy pattern matching for text (identify misspellings!)Finding correlations in dataGame-playing algorithmsPredicting phenomena such as Web trafficPolynomial and spline fitting Using algorithms explained in this book, you too can carry out traditional programming tasks.

Working on the assumption that the reader has no formal training in programming, Perl Programming for Biologists demonstrates how Perl is used to solve biological problems. Each chapter opens with a set of learning objectives, provides numerous review questions and self-study exercises, and concludes with a bulleted summary of key points. The author incorporates numerous real-life examples throughout the text. Upon completing the book, readers are able to quickly perform such tasks as correcting recurring errors in spreadsheets, scanning a Fasta sequence for every occurrence of an EcoRI site, adapting other writers' scripts to one's own purposes, and most important, writing reusable and maintainable scripts that spare the rote repetition of code.

Most Perl programmers were originally trained as C and Unix programmers, so the Perl programs that they write bear a strong resemblance to C programs. However, Perl incorporates many features that have their roots in other languages such as Lisp. These advanced features are not well understood and are rarely used by most Perl programmers, but they are very powerful. They can automate tasks in everyday programming that are difficult to solve in any other way. One of the most powerful of these techniques is writing functions that manufacture or modify other functions. For example, instead of writing ten similar functions, a programmer can write a general pattern or framework that can then create the functions as needed according to the pattern. For several years Mark Jason Dominus has worked to apply functional programming techniques to Perl. Now Mark brings these flexible programming methods that he has successfully taught in numerous tutorials and training sessions to a wider audience. * Introduces powerful programming methods new to most Perl programmers that were previously the domain of computer scientists* Gradually builds up confidence by describing techniques of progressive sophistication* Shows how to improve everyday programs and includes numerous engaging code examples to illustrate the methods

Covers advanced features of Perl, how the Perl interpreter works, and presents areas of modern computing technology such as networking, user interfaces, persistence, and code generation.