Preface

• Running Modern Perl
• Credits

The Perl Philosophy

• Perldoc
• Expressivity
• Context
  • Void, Scalar, and List Context
  • Numeric, String, and Boolean Context
• Implicit Ideas
  • The Default Scalar Variable
  • The Default Array Variables

Perl and Its Community

• The CPAN
  • CPAN Management Tools
• Community Sites
• Development Sites
• Events
• IRC

The Perl Language

• Names
  • Variable Names and Sigils
  • Namespaces
• Variables
  • Variable Scopes
  • Variable Sigils
  • Anonymous Variables
  • Variables, Types, and Coercion
• Values
  • Strings
  • Unicode and Strings
    • Character Encodings
    • Unicode in Your Filehandles
    • Unicode in Your Data
    • Unicode in Your Programs
    • Implicit Conversion
  • Numbers
  • Undef
  • The Empty List
  • Lists
• Control Flow
  • Branching Directives
  • The Ternary Conditional Operator
    • Short Circuiting
  • Context for Conditional Directives
  • Looping Directives
  • Iteration and Aliasing
  • Iteration and Scoping
  • The C-Style For Loop
  • While and Until
  • Loops within Loops
  • Loop Control
  • Continue
  • Switch Statements
  • Tailcalls
• Scalars
  • Scalars and Types
• Arrays
  • Array Elements
  • Array Assignment
  • Array Operations
  • Array Slices
  • Arrays and Context
  • Array Interpolation
• Hashes
  • Declaring Hashes
  • Hash Indexing
  • Hash Key Existence
  • Accessing Hash Keys and Values
  • Hash Slices
  • The Empty Hash
  • Hash Idioms
  • Locking Hashes
• Coercion
  • Boolean Coercion
  • String Coercion
  • Numeric Coercion
  • Reference Coercion
  • Cached Coercions
  • Dualvars
• Packages
  • Packages and Namespaces
• References
  • Scalar References
  • Array References
  • Hash References
  • Function References
  • Filehandle References
  • Reference Counts
  • References and Functions
  • Postfix Dereferencing
• Nested Data Structures
  • Autovivification
  • Debugging Nested Data Structures
  • Circular References
  • Alternatives to Nested Data Structures

Operators

• Operator Characteristics
  • Precedence
  • Associativity
  • Arity
  • Fixity
• Operator Types
  • Numeric Operators
  • String Operators
  • Logical Operators
  • Bitwise Operators
  • Special Operators

Functions

• Declaring Functions
• Invoking Functions
• Function Parameters
  • Real Function Signatures
  • Flattening
  • Slurping
  • Aliasing
• Functions and Namespaces
  • Importing
• Reporting Errors
  • Validating Arguments
• Advanced Functions
  • Context Awareness
  • Recursion
  • Lexicals
  • Tail Calls
• Pitfalls and Misfeatures
• Scope
  • Lexical Scope
  • Our Scope
  • Dynamic Scope
  • State Scope
• Anonymous Functions
  • Declaring Anonymous Functions
  • Anonymous Function Names
  • Implicit Anonymous Functions
• Closures
  • Creating Closures
  • Uses of Closures
  • Closures and Partial Application
• State versus Closures
• State versus Pseudo-State
• Attributes
  • Drawbacks of Attributes
• AUTOLOAD
  • Redispatching Methods in AUTOLOAD()
  • Generating Code in AUTOLOAD()
  • Drawbacks of AUTOLOAD

Regular Expressions and Matching

• Literals
• The qr// Operator and Regex Combinations
• Quantifiers
• Greediness
• Regex Anchors
• Metacharacters
• Character Classes
• Capturing
  • Named Captures
  • Numbered Captures
• Grouping and Alternation
• Other Escape Sequences
• Assertions
• Regex Modifiers
• Smart Matching

Objects

• Moose
  • Classes
  • Methods
  • Attributes
  • Encapsulation
    • Polymorphism
  • Roles
    • Roles and DOES()
  • Inheritance
    • Inheritance and Attributes
    • Method Dispatch Order
    • Inheritance and Methods
    • Inheritance and isa()
  • Moose and Perl OO
• Blessed References
  • Method Lookup and Inheritance
  • AUTOLOAD
  • Method Overriding and SUPER
  • Strategies for Coping with Blessed References
• Reflection
  • Checking that a Module Has Loaded
  • Checking that a Package Exists
  • Checking that a Class Exists
  • Checking a Module Version Number
  • Checking that a Function Exists
  • Checking that a Method Exists
  • Rooting Around in Symbol Tables
• Advanced OO Perl
  • Favor Composition Over Inheritance
  • Single Responsibility Principle
  • Don't Repeat Yourself
  • Liskov Substitution Principle
  • Subtypes and Coercions
  • Immutability

Style and Efficacy

• Writing Maintainable Perl
• Writing Idiomatic Perl
• Writing Effective Perl
• Exceptions
  • Throwing Exceptions
  • Catching Exceptions
  • Exception Caveats
  • Built-in Exceptions
• Pragmas
  • Pragmas and Scope
  • Using Pragmas
  • Useful Pragmas

Managing Real Programs

• Testing
  • Test::More
  • Running Tests
  • Better Comparisons
  • Organizing Tests
  • Other Testing Modules
• Handling Warnings
  • Producing Warnings
  • Enabling and Disabling Warnings
  • Disabling Warning Categories
  • Making Warnings Fatal
  • Catching Warnings
  • Registering Your Own Warnings
• Files
  • Input and Output
    • Unicode, IO Layers, and File Modes
    • Two-argument open
    • Reading from Files
    • Writing to Files
    • Closing Files
    • Special File Handling Variables
  • Directories and Paths
    • Manipulating Paths
  • File Manipulation
• Modules
  • Organizing Code with Modules
  • Using and Importing
  • Exporting
• Distributions
  • Attributes of a Distribution
  • CPAN Tools for Managing Distributions
  • Designing Distributions
• The UNIVERSAL Package
  • The VERSION() Method
  • The DOES() Method
  • The can() Method
  • The isa() Method
  • Extending UNIVERSAL
• Code Generation
  • eval
  • Parametric Closures
  • Compile-time Manipulation
  • Class::MOP
• Overloading
  • Overloading Common Operations
  • Overload and Inheritance
  • Uses of Overloading
• Taint
  • Using Taint Mode
  • Sources of Taint
  • Removing Taint from Data
  • Removing Taint from the Environment
  • Taint Gotchas

Perl Beyond Syntax

• Idioms
  • The Object as $self
  • Named Parameters
  • The Schwartzian Transform
  • Easy File Slurping
  • Handling Main
  • Controlled Execution
  • Postfix Parameter Validation
  • Regex En Passant
  • Unary Coercions
• Global Variables
  • Managing Super Globals
  • English Names
  • Useful Super Globals
  • Alternatives to Super Globals

What to Avoid

• Barewords
  • Good Uses of Barewords
    • Bareword hash keys
    • Bareword package names
    • Bareword named code blocks
    • Bareword constants
  • Ill-Advised Uses of Barewords
    • Bareword hash values
    • Bareword function calls
    • Bareword filehandles
    • Bareword sort functions
• Indirect Objects
  • Bareword Indirect Invocations
  • Indirect Notation Scalar Limitations
  • Alternatives to Indirect Notation
• Prototypes
  • The Problem with Prototypes
  • Good Uses of Prototypes
• Method-Function Equivalence
  • Caller-side
  • Callee-side
• Automatic Dereferencing
• Tie
  • Tying Variables
  • Implementing Tied Variables
  • When to use Tied Variables

Next Steps with Perl

• Useful Core Modules
  • The strict Pragma
  • The warnings Pragma
  • The autodie Pragma
  • Perl Version Numbers
• What's Next?
  • Thinking in Perl