perl

Perl Programming Classes



Course Outline





Programming in Perl - Beginning Class (3-days)



Basic Programming Fundamentals

 Computer Memory

 What are variables?

 Control Structures

 Making decisions

 Looping

 Scope in the namespace

 Structured Programming Concepts



Introduction to Perl

 Whirlwind Tour of Perl

 How to make a Perl program



Scalar Data Types

 What is scalar data?

 Numbers

 Strings

 Perl's Built-in Warnings

 Scalar variables

 Output with print

 The if control statement

 Getting user input

 The chomp operator

 The while control structure

 The undef value

 The defined function



Lists and Arrays

 What is an array?

 Accessing elements of an array

 Special array indices

 List literals

 List assignment

 Interpolating arrays into strings

 The foreach control structure

 Perl's default $_

 Scalar and List content

 in List context



Subroutines

 System and User functions

 Defining a subroutine

 Invoking a subroutine

 Return values

 Arguments

 Private variables

 The local operator

 Variable-length parameter lists

 The my operator

 The use strict pragma

 The return operator



Hashes

 What is a hash?

 Hash element access

 Hash functions

 Typical use of a hash

 More on the foreach Control structure



I/O Basic

 Input from Standard Input

 Input from the Diamond operator

 The invocation arguments

 Output to Standard Output

 Formatted output with printf





Programming in Perl - Intermediate Class (5-days)



Concepts of Regular Expressions

 What are Regular Expressions

 Using simple patterns

 A pattern test program



More About Regular Expressions

 Character classes

 General Quantifiers

 Anchors

 Memory Parentheses

 Precedence



Using Regular Expressions

 Matches with m//

 Option modifiers

 The Binding Operator =~

 Interpolating into patterns

 The match variables

 Substitution with s///

 The split operator

 The join operator



More Control Structures

 The unless control structure

 The until control structure

 Expression modifiers

 The Naked Block control structure

 The elsif clause

 Autoincrement and Autodecrement

 The for control structure

 Loop controls

 Logical operators



Filehandles and File Tests

 What is a filehandle?

 Opening a filehandle

 Fatal Errors with die

 Using filehandles

 Reopening a Standard filehandle

 File tests



Directory Operations

 Moving around the directory tree

 Globbing

 An alternate syntax for Globbing

 Directory handles

 Recursive Directory Listing



Manipulating Files and Directories

 Removing files

 Renaming files

 Links and files

 Making and removing directories

 Modifying file permissions

 Changing ownership

 Changing Timestamps

 Using simple Modules



Process Management

 The system function

 The exec function

 The ENVironment variables

 Using Backquotes to capture output

 Processes as filehandles

 Down and dirty with fork

 Sending and receiving signals



Strings and Sorting

 Finding a substring with index

 Manipulating a substring with substr

 Formatting data with sprintf

 Advanced sorting



Simple Databases

 DBM Files and DBM Hashes

 Manipulating data with pack and unpack

 Fixed-length Random-access databases

 Variable-length Databases



Advanced Perl Techniques

 Trapping errors with eval

 Picking items from a list with grep

 Transforming items from a list with map

 Unquoted hash keys

 More powerful Regular Expressions

 Slices