Sams Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days 2nd Edition

Sams Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days covers the basics of Perl in the first few chapters, and then moves on to practical issues of Perl and in-depth discussions of more advanced topics. Later chapters also delve into software engineering topics, with discussions of modular code and object-oriented programming. CGI is covered in one chapter, but it is not the focus on the book. The book relies heavily on longer working examples and code, as opposed to small snippets and code fragments, and each chapter includes two to three smaller complete examples and one major one that illustrates most of the concepts for that chapter and builds on the chapters before it. Written by Laura Lemay, this is her third major book after Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML in 21 Days and Sams Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days.

Laura Lemay is a member of the gregarious, brightly colored species of computer-book author known as tutorialis prolificus. Although she has been spotted writing in the wild for numerous years, more public sightings have occurred frequently since 1995, including several versions of Sams Teach Yourself HTML, Sams Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days, and The Official Marimba Guide to Castanet.

When not writing books, her primary habitat is in Northern California. Should you encounter her in person, do not make any sudden movements. Further field notes may be found at http://www.lne.com/lemay/.

Rafe Colburn is a programmer and author working in North Carolina. His previous books include Sams Teach Yourself CGI in 24 Hours and Special Edition Using SQL. He also has a Web site at http://rc3.org that he updates often, and can be reached at rafe@rc3.org.