Introduction to Perl Programming

Learn Perl, a powerful and easy-to-use scripting language used on PCs, servers, and on the Internet for a wide range of programming problems. Perl is as capable - and often as fast - as C, C++, and Java, but is easier to learn and does not require the sort of software development tools and environments required by those languages. Perl is also more portable and supported on a greater variety of computers than many other computing languages. Perl programming skills are especially valuable for Web developers, software developers, and system administrators.

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Nathan Meyers.

In over 20 years as a software developer, Nathan Meyers has used Perl extensively for PC and server applications. He has instructed courses in the corporate environment, on introductory Unix and on using programmable financial calculators. He is also the author of the Macmillan book "Java Programming on Linux", numerous conference papers, and articles in trade publications.

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Requirements:

Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader). In addition, you'll need access to a computer on which you can run the course software - the Perl interpreter and the Apache Web Server. The course supplies all necessary software for Windows. The software is also available (for free) for many other systems, including Mac OS X and Linux, although you'll need to download, install, and configure it yourself if you are running on one of those systems.

Syllabus:

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such, we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your course work, including the final exam.

Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

In the first lesson, you'll discover the Perl scripting language and learn how it compares to environments like Java and C++. You will install Perl on your PC, and you'll write your first Perl scripts.

Friday - Lesson 02

This second lesson will introduce many of the building blocks you'll use in all of your Perl scripting. You'll learn how Perl lets you manipulate text and numbers in simple but powerful ways. We'll illustrate these capabilities with a simple game written in Perl.

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

This lesson continues our study of Perl's basic building blocks. You'll learn how scripts can make decisions, perform repetitive operations, and do more advanced programming with text and numbers. Through class projects, you'll discover how Perl is used to extract and process information.

Friday - Lesson 04

Today, you'll add arrays and lists to your scripting arsenal. These powerful tools will help you solve many more advanced problems than we've covered so far. We'll revisit some of our earlier projects to see how they can be done more easily with these new capabilities.

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

This lesson introduces debugging: the tools and techniques that you can use to find and fix problems as you develop your own Perl scripts.

Friday - Lesson 06

In this lesson, we'll take a close look at files and directories, learning how Perl can read, write, and create files and folders on your computer. We'll illustrate by writing helpful utility scripts for managing your own files and folders.

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

This lesson adds two important Perl features to your arsenal: hashes and subroutines. You'll find that many of the projects you've done so far become even easier with these powerful new capabilities.

Friday - Lesson 08

In this lesson, you'll learn all about regular expressions, one of Perl's most important capabilities for advanced processing of text. Through our class projects, you'll see how this lets you write useful scripts for processing text from files.

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

In all of your work with Perl so far, you've been writing scripts to run on your own PC. With this lesson, you'll learn how to bring your Perl capabilities to the World Wide Web. You'll find out how to use everything you've learned to write interactive Perl-based Web pages.

Friday - Lesson 10

This lesson continues our exploration of Perl and the Web, introducing more advanced capabilities that let you write and use online Web forms and other interactive features. You'll revisit some projects from earlier lessons and find out how to turn them into interactive Web pages.

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

In this lesson, we'll explore how Perl can interact with other programs on your computer. You can use the information to build more powerful scripts and Web pages that take advantage of the capabilities of other programs available on your PC.

Friday - Lesson 12

In our final lesson, you'll learn where you can go to further enhance your knowledge of Perl. The lesson will introduce a few advanced capabilities you can explore further on your own, and will point you toward collections of Perl software and documentation that can teach you more about Perl and help you write more useful scripts.

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Student Reviews:

• "Although work often takes away from concentrating more on the lessons, the course presented me with immediately useful information. I intend to keep these lessons as reference material when I continue with Perl programming."
  
  
• "I enjoyed this course especially the writing style of the teacher. His style showed a sense of humor and made the class fun. I could see how it would be a great experience to be in his on-campus class if it was possible. I appreciated his quick response to the questions I posted."
  
  
• "Instructor was great. I'd love to take another of his classes."
  
  
• "It was a real honor to be your student this past month. I can't begin to describe how eager I am to begin writing Perl codes of my own! Your web pages have been easy to comprehend, full of powerful information, and just plain fun! I'm very glad to have had you as my instructor in learning Perl, and wouldn't have wanted anyone else. Thanks again for a wonderful course!"
  
  
• "I've programmed computers for 40+ years in every language known to mankind (OK, almost every language ...) and was self-taught in Perl in order to do my job. This course was FANTASTIC in opening my eyes to new ways to do things, tricks and hints and in explaining things I just took on faith before enrolling here. The instructor's lessons are clear, concise, and easily readable. The quizzes and exams were not 'gimme' types, but, instead, made you think. I'm excited about the new knowledge I've added to my almost-full brain and looking forward to utilizing Perl more and more as time goes on. GREAT COURSE! "
  
  
• "Overall, the course provided a good introduction to the topic and I would like to learn more."
  
  
• "This is a really well organized class. I felt that the pacing was excellent. I liked the examples and thought they demonstrated the points well. The assignments were interesting and could be extended by the student if they wanted to go further."
  
  
• "This is my first on-line/distance learning experience and I must say I'd do it again. It was very convenient to be able to catch up with the rest of the class even after being weeks behind. The instructor did a superb job at organizing the material, selecting the examples, and following up on the questions posted in the discussion areas. Great job, Nathan! Thanks from a very satisfied customer."
  
  
• "This is my first programming course in class or online in any programming language. Nevertheless, I feel that this course was presented at the right level and detail. The quizzes and assignments were often pretty challenging, but within reason and appropriate. Excellent job - amazing what you can teach online!"
  
  

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