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Diffstat (limited to 'pod/perlmod.pod')
| -rw-r--r-- | pod/perlmod.pod | 280 |
1 files changed, 146 insertions, 134 deletions
diff --git a/pod/perlmod.pod b/pod/perlmod.pod index d557e68ff7..c5ab08a07c 100644 --- a/pod/perlmod.pod +++ b/pod/perlmod.pod @@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ name is thus C<%main::>, or C<%::> for short. Likewise the nested package mentioned earlier is named C<%OUTER::INNER::>. The value in each entry of the associative array is what you are -referring to when you use the C<*name> notation. In fact, the following +referring to when you use the C<*name> typeglob notation. In fact, the following have the same effect, though the first is more efficient because it does the symbol table lookups at compile time: @@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ Note that even though the subroutine is compiled in package C<dumpvar>, the name of the subroutine is qualified so that its name is inserted into package C<main>. -Assignment to a symbol table entry performs an aliasing operation, +Assignment to a typeglob performs an aliasing operation, i.e., *dick = *richard; @@ -149,16 +149,16 @@ and C<END> work just as they do in B<awk>, as a degenerate case. =head2 Perl Classes -There is no special class syntax in Perl 5, but a package may function +There is no special class syntax in Perl, but a package may function as a class if it provides subroutines that function as methods. Such a package may also derive some of its methods from another class package -by listing the other package name in its @ISA array. For more on -this, see L<perlobj>. +by listing the other package name in its @ISA array. + +For more on this, see L<perlobj>. =head2 Perl Modules -In Perl 5, the notion of packages has been extended into the notion of -modules. A module is a package that is defined in a library file of +A module is a just package that is defined in a library file of the same name, and is designed to be reusable. It may do this by providing a mechanism for exporting some of its symbols into the symbol table of any package using it. Or it may function as a class @@ -166,7 +166,21 @@ definition and make its semantics available implicitly through method calls on the class and its objects, without explicit exportation of any symbols. Or it can do a little of both. -Perl modules are included by saying +For example, to start a normal module called Fred, create +a file called Fred.pm and put this at the start of it: + + package Fred; + require Exporter; + @ISA = qw(Exporter); + @EXPORT = qw(func1 func2); + @EXPORT_OK = qw($sally @listabob %harry func3); + +Then go on to declare and use your variables in functions +without any qualifications. +See L<Exporter> and the I<Perl Modules File> for details on +mechanics and style issues in module creation. + +Perl modules are included into your program by saying use Module; @@ -269,206 +283,204 @@ The following programs are defined (and have their own documentation). =over 12 +=item C<diagnostics> + +Pragma to produce enhanced diagnostics + =item C<integer> -Perl pragma to compute arithmetic in integer instead of double +Pragma to compute arithmetic in integer instead of double =item C<less> -Perl pragma to request less of something from the compiler +Pragma to request less of something from the compiler =item C<sigtrap> -Perl pragma to enable stack backtrace on unexpected signals +Pragma to enable stack backtrace on unexpected signals =item C<strict> -Perl pragma to restrict unsafe constructs +Pragma to restrict unsafe constructs =item C<subs> -Perl pragma to predeclare sub names +Pragma to predeclare sub names =back =head2 Standard Modules -The following modules are all expected to behave in a well-defined +Standard, bundled modules are all expected to behave in a well-defined manner with respect to namespace pollution because they use the -Exporter module. -See their own documentation for details. - -=over 12 - -=item C<Abbrev> - -create an abbreviation table from a list - -=item C<AnyDBM_File> - -provide framework for multiple DBMs - -=item C<AutoLoader> - -load functions only on demand - -=item C<AutoSplit> - -split a package for autoloading - -=item C<Basename> - -parse file name and path from a specification - -=item C<Benchmark> - -benchmark running times of code - -=item C<Carp> - -warn or die of errors (from perspective of caller) +Exporter module. See their own documentation for details. -=item C<CheckTree> +To find out all the modules installed on your system, do this: -run many filetest checks on a tree + find `perl -e 'print "@INC"'` -name '*.pm' -print -=item C<Collate> +They should all have their own documentation installed and accessible via +your system man(1) command. If that fails, try the I<perldoc> program. -compare 8-bit scalar data according to the current locale - -=item C<Config> - -access Perl configuration option +=head2 Extension Modules -=item C<Cwd> +Extension modules are written in C (or a mix of Perl and C) and get +dynamically loaded into Perl if and when you need them. Supported +extension modules include the Socket, Fcntl, and POSIX modules. -get pathname of current working directory +Many popular C extension modules +do not come bundled (at least, not completely) +due to their size, volatility, or simply lack of time for adequate testing +and configuration across the multitude of platforms on which Perl was +beta-tested. You are encouraged to look for them in archie(1L), the Perl +FAQ or Meta-FAQ, the WWW page, and even with their authors before randomly +posting asking for their present condition and disposition. -=item C<DynaLoader> +=head2 CPAN -Dynamically load C libraries into Perl code +CPAN stands for the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network. This is a globally +replicated collection of all known Perl materials, including hundreds +of unbunded modules. Here are the major categories of modules: -=item C<English> +=over -use nice English (or B<awk>) names for ugly punctuation variables +=item * +Language Extensions and Documentation Tools -=item C<Env> +=item * +Development Support -Perl module that imports environment variables +=item * +Operating System Interfaces -=item C<Exporter> +=item * +Networking, Device Control (modems) and InterProcess Communication -module to control namespace manipulations +=item * +Data Types and Data Type Utilities -=item C<Fcntl> +=item * +Database Interfaces -load the C Fcntl.h defines +=item * +User Interfaces -=item C<FileHandle> +=item * +Interfaces to / Emulations of Other Programming Languages -supply object methods for filehandles +=item * +File Names, File Systems and File Locking (see also File Handles) -=item C<Find> +=item * +String Processing, Language Text Processing, Parsing and Searching -traverse a file tree +=item * +Option, Argument, Parameter and Configuration File Processing -=item C<Finddepth> +=item * +Internationalization and Locale -traverse a directory structure depth-first +=item * +Authentication, Security and Encryption -=item C<Getopt> +=item * +World Wide Web, HTML, HTTP, CGI, MIME -basic and extended getopt(3) processing +=item * +Server and Daemon Utilities -=item C<MakeMaker> +=item * +Archiving and Compression -generate a Makefile for Perl extension +=item * +Images, Pixmap and Bitmap Manipulation, Drawing and Graphing -=item C<Open2> +=item * +Mail and Usenet News -open a process for both reading and writing +=item * +Control Flow Utilities (callbacks and exceptions etc) -=item C<Open3> +=item * +File Handle and Input/Output Stream Utilities -open a process for reading, writing, and error handling +=item * +Miscellaneous Modules -=item C<POSIX> +=back -Perl interface to IEEE 1003.1 namespace +Some of the reguster CPAN sites as of this writing include the following. +You should try to choose one close to you: -=item C<Ping> +=over -check a host for upness +=item * +ftp://ftp.sterling.com/programming/languages/perl/ -=item C<Socket> +=item * +ftp://ftp.sedl.org/pub/mirrors/CPAN/ -load the C socket.h defines +=item * +ftp://ftp.uoknor.edu/mirrors/CPAN/ -=back +=item * +ftp://ftp.delphi.com/pub/mirrors/packages/perl/CPAN/ -=head2 Extension Modules +=item * +ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/lang/perl/CPAN/ -Extension modules are written in C (or a mix of Perl and C) and get -dynamically loaded into Perl if and when you need them. Supported -extension modules include the Socket, Fcntl, and POSIX modules. +=item * +ftp://ftp.cis.ufl.edu/pub/perl/CPAN/ -The following are popular C extension modules, which while available at -Perl 5.0 release time, do not come bundled (at least, not completely) -due to their size, volatility, or simply lack of time for adequate testing -and configuration across the multitude of platforms on which Perl was -beta-tested. You are encouraged to look for them in archie(1L), the Perl -FAQ or Meta-FAQ, the WWW page, and even with their authors before randomly -posting asking for their present condition and disposition. There's no -guarantee that the names or addresses below have not changed since printing, -and in fact, they probably have! +=item * +ftp://ftp.switch.ch/mirror/CPAN/ -=over 12 +=item * +ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/lang/perl/CPAN/ -=item C<Curses> +=item * +ftp://ftp.ci.uminho.pt/pub/lang/perl/ -Written by William Setzer <F<William_Setzer@ncsu.edu>>, while not -included with the standard distribution, this extension module ports to -most systems. FTP from your nearest Perl archive site, or try +=item * +ftp://ftp.cs.ruu.nl/pub/PERL/CPAN/ - ftp://ftp.ncsu.edu/pub/math/wsetzer/cursperl5??.tar.gz +=item * +ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/mirrors/perl/CPAN/ -It is currently in alpha test, so the name and ftp location may -change. +=item * +ftp://ftp.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pub/programming/languages/perl/CPAN/ +=item * +ftp://ftp.leo.org/pub/comp/programming/languages/perl/CPAN/ -=item C<DBI> +=item * +ftp://ftp.pasteur.fr/pub/computing/unix/perl/CPAN/ -This is the portable database interface written by -<F<Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk>>. This supersedes the many perl4 ports for -database extensions. The official archive for DBperl extensions is -F<ftp.demon.co.uk:/pub/perl/db>. This archive contains copies of perl4 -ports for Ingres, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Unify, Postgres, and -Interbase, as well as rdb and shql and other non-SQL systems. +=item * +ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/perl/CPAN/ -=item C<DB_File> +=item * +ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/languages/perl/CPAN/ -Fastest and most restriction-free of the DBM bindings, this extension module -uses the popular Berkeley DB to tie() into your hashes. This has a -standardly-distributed man page and dynamic loading extension module, but -you'll have to fetch the Berkeley code yourself. See L<DB_File> for -where. +=item * +ftp://ftp.tekotago.ac.nz/pub/perl/CPAN/ -=item C<Sx> +=item * +ftp://ftp.mame.mu.oz.au/pub/perl/CPAN/ -This extension module is a front to the Athena and Xlib libraries for Perl -GUI programming, originally written by by Dominic Giampaolo -<F<dbg@sgi.com>>, then and rewritten for Sx by FrE<eacute>dE<eacute>ric -Chauveau <F<fmc@pasteur.fr>>. It's available for FTP from +=item * +ftp://coombs.anu.edu.au/pub/perl/ - ftp.pasteur.fr:/pub/Perl/Sx.tar.gz +=item * +ftp://dongpo.math.ncu.edu.tw/perl/CPAN/ -=item C<Tk> +=item * +ftp://ftp.lab.kdd.co.jp/lang/perl/CPAN/ -This extension module is an object-oriented Perl5 binding to the popular -tcl/tk X11 package. However, you need know no TCL to use it! -It was written by Malcolm Beattie <F<mbeattie@sable.ox.ac.uk>>. -If you are unable to locate it using archie(1L) or a similar -tool, you may try retrieving it from F</private/Tk-october.tar.gz> -from Malcolm's machine listed above. +=item * +ftp://ftp.is.co.za/programming/perl/CPAN/ =back + +For an up-to-date listing of CPAN sites, +see http://www.perl.com/perl/ or ftp://ftp.perl.com/perl/. |