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Best way to learn the Perl environment?

PapaGeek
User

Jan 24, 2014, 2:40 AM

Post #1 of 3 (1625 views)

Best way to learn the Perl environment?	Can't Post

I’ve been programming the “old fashion way” for years. Get and install Visual Studio and start programming.

Perl is a different animal, and I want to learn it.

Perl is open source and is available from multiple sources, Strawberry, Active State, and others. It is available for UNIX, Windows, and web CGI to mention a few.

So, bottom line, multiple options make for multiple different implementations. You ask a question on a forum and someone answers you. You try what they suggested and it does not work: they are using a different configuration, working under a different environment.

A lot of what makes Perl work so well is the availability of multiple packages. Even as a beginner, my first task was to write my own package for internet screen scraping.

This leads me to my first dilemma: I am working with Strawberry Perl, Eclipse, and Epic, but the PPM process with Strawberry Perl is horrible. The Active State version looks like the best way to manage your packages.

What is the best way to learn about all of these different environments and how they interact with each other? For example, can I load both Strawberry and Active State on the same computer, and if so, can I use the Active State PPM with Strawberry? How many different environments exist on Windows? What are the differences?

What I’m looking for is not necessarily the answers here, but a list of good links that talk about and compare the available environments.

FishMonger
Veteran / Moderator

Jan 24, 2014, 6:49 AM

Post #2 of 3 (1623 views)

Re: [PapaGeek] Best way to learn the Perl environment? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Quote

What is the best way to learn about all of these different environments and how they interact with each other?

Test each one.

Quote

can I load both Strawberry and Active State on the same computer,

Doing that on a *nix system is fine and it could also be done on Windows BUT Windows is not nearly as good at handling multiple installs and in most cases they collide and cause problems.

If you want to use multiple perl versions on Windows, you should install each one under its own VM so you can isolate them and not have collisions/conflicts.

On *nix systems, you should use Perlbrew to handle the maintaining of multiple versions.
http://perlbrew.pl/

Like you are now, I used to be tied down to wanting to use PPM for my module installs and I still do use it on occasion, but now 98% of the time I use the cpan utility because it gives me access to a much larger set of modules that I can install.

Quote

What I’m looking for is not necessarily the answers here, but a list of good links that talk about and compare the available environments.

I don't have any direct links to discussions on the comparisons, but if you search the archives on perlmonks and stackoverflow you should be able to find some of that info.

PapaGeek
User

Jan 24, 2014, 1:22 PM

Post #3 of 3 (1617 views)

Re: [FishMonger] Best way to learn the Perl environment? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thank you for the reply, you have now given me another thing to research, CPAN Utility; and of course CPAN itself.

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