Perl Training Course

Part 1: Fundamentals

Introduction to Perl

• What is Perl
• Perl at the Command Line
• Perl Scripts
• Print Functions
• Literals
• Quoting Rules
• Here Documents

Fundamentals of Perl

• Variables
• Naming Conventions
• Scope and Package
• Scalars
• Assigning a value to a Scalar Variable
• Curly Braces and Scalars
• The $_ scalar variable
• Arrays
• Slices
• Split Function
• Associative Arrays
• Predefined Filehandles
• Standard Input
• Standard Output
• Standard Error

Operators and Conditions

• Operators
• Arithmetic Operators
• String Operators
• Assignment Operators
• Precedence and Associativity
• Relational and Equality Operators
• The if Construct
• Testing Equality
• The if/else Construct
• Numeric Operators
• String Operators
• Logical Operators
• The if/elsif/else Construct
• Autoincrement and Autodecriment Operators
• String Operations
• Range Operator

Regular Expressions

• Regular Expressions
• Simple Statements and Modifiers
• Pattern Matching
• The Metacharacters
• The tr function
• Pattern Matching Operators

Loops

• Loops
• Labels and Blocks
• The while Loop
• The Until Loop
• The For Loop
• Labels, Loops, and Loop Control
• The foreach loop
• Nested Loops and Labels

Working with Files

• User Defined Filehandles
• A Little About Dying
• The close function
• Open for reading
• Open for writing
• Open for appending
• Open for pipes
• The eof function

Arguments

• Arguments and More Arrays
• The @ARGV array-Command Line Arguments
• ARGV and the Shift Functions
• Array Built-in Functions
• The grep function
• The split function
• The join function
• The splice function
• The pop function
• The push function
• The shift function
• The unshift function
• The reverse function
• The sort function
• The chop function
• The chomp function
• More associative Arrays
• Associative Array Functions
• The keys function
• The values function
• The each function
• The delete function
• The exists function
• The %ENV Array

Perl Modules

• Subroutines
• Defining and Calling a Subroutine
• Passing by Reference
• Passing By Value
• The local Function
• The return Statement
• The Standard Perl Library
• The @INC Array
• Packages and .pl Files
• The require function
• Including Standard Library Routines
• Modules and .pm Files
• Using a Perl5 Module

Part 2 - Advanced Topics

Packages

• Packages
• The Symbol Table
• Using The Strict Pragma

Libraries

• The Standard Perl Library
• Including a Standard Perl Library Routine
• Using a Perl5 Module from the Standard Perl Library
• Including your Subroutines from Another Directory
• The Exporter Module and the @ISA Array
• Using Modules from the Standard Perl Library
• Using Perl to Create Your Own Module

Pointers

• References
• Symbolic References (aliases and typeglob)
• Hard References (pointers)
• Anonymous Variables and References

Objects

• Object Oriented Perl
• OOP Terminology
• Classes
• The my Function
• Objects
• Methods
• Destructors
• Inheritance
• The @ISA Array
• Derived Classes

POD Files

• Perl Modules and Documentation
• Another Look at the Standard Perl Library
• POD Files
• POD Commands
• How to Use POD Interpreters
• Using a Module from the Standard Perl Library

Tying Variables and DBM Files

• Tying Variables and DBM Files
• The Tie Function
• Predefined Methods
• DBM Files
• Creating and Assigning Data to a Database
• Deleting Entries from a Database

Web Pages and HTML

• What makes up a WEB page?
• Static and Dynamic Pages
• The Common Gateway Interface
• Internet Communication Between Client and Server
• HTTP Status Codes and Logfiles
• The URL
• WEB Protocols
• File URLs and the Server's Root Directory
• Creating a Web Page with HTML
• What is HTML
• Creating Tags
• A Simple HTML Document
• A Little HTML Tutorial
• Text Layout

The Common Gateway Interface

• Intro to CGI
• Error Logs and Stderr
• Access Logs and Status Codes
• A Simple CGI Script
• Where to find CGI Applications
• Getting Information into and out of a CGI Script
• CGI Environment Variables
• An HTML File with a Link to a CGI Script

Processing Forms

• CGI and Forms
• Input Types for Forms
• Creating a Form
• A Simple form with Text Fields, Radio Buttons, and Popup Menus
• The Get Method
• Processing the Form
• The encoded query string
• Decoding the Query String with Per
• Parsing Form Input
• Putting it All Together
• The Post Method
• Handling Emai
• The SMTP Server
• Email and the mailto: Protocol
• Extra Path Information
• Server Side Includes

The CGI.pm Module

• Introduction
• Advantages
• Two Styles of Programming with CGI.pm
• Object Oriented Style
• Function Oriented Style
• How Input From Forms is Processed
• Creating the HTML Form
• HTML Methods (Table 10.1)
• Processing the Form's Data with Param
• Checking the Form at the Command Line
• CGI.pm Form Elements (Table 10.3)
• Methods for Generating Form Input Fields
• The Textfield Method
• The checkbox method
• The radio_group and popup Methods
• The popup_menu Method
• The Submit and resent Methods
• Clearing Fields with the Override Argument
• Error Handling
• Cookies
• HTTP Header Methods