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Mastering Modern Perl: Writing Efficient and Maintainable Code

Want to learn how to code? Delve into Modern Perl, get hands-on experience with best practices, and confidently build efficient, maintainable, and scalable code using Perl's rich features.

Intermediate

166 Lessons

35h

Certificate of Completion

Want to learn how to code? Delve into Modern Perl, get hands-on experience with best practices, and confidently build efficient, maintainable, and scalable code using Perl's rich features.

AI-POWERED

Explanations

AI-POWERED

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This course includes

405 Playgrounds

30 Challenges

13 Quizzes

Course Overview

What You'll Learn

Course Content

Recommendations

Course Overview

Modern Perl is a mindset. It’s an approach to writing great software with the Perl programming language. It’s how effective Perl programmers write powerful, maintainable, scalable, concise, and excellent code. It takes advantage of Perl’s extensive library of free software (the CPAN) and language features designed to multiply your productivity. In this course, you will cover a wide range of topics, including Perl's philosophy, the basics of the Perl language, object-oriented programming, exception handling...Show More

What You'll Learn

An understanding of the philosophy behind Perl’s design.

A deep understanding of the Perl programming language.

The ability to build Modern Perl mindset and write idiomatic Perl code.

An understanding of the best practices for writing reliable and maintainable Perl code.

The ability to leverage CPAN to improve productivity and write better Perl code.

An understanding of the philosophy behind Perl’s design.

Course Content

Introduction to Modern Perl

2 Lessons

Get familiar with writing effective Perl using modern tools and techniques.

Overview of the Course

Running Modern Perl

The Perl Philosophy

10 Lessons

Unpack the core of Perl's philosophy, documentation, expressivity, context, implicit ideas, and context-related exercises.

Perldoc

Expressivity

Context

Void, Scalar, and List Context

Numeric, String, and Boolean Context

Implicit Ideas: The Default Scalar Variable

Implicit Ideas: The Default Array Variables

Exercise: Remove a Newline Character

Solution: Remove a Newline Character

Quiz: Context and Implicit Ideas

Perl Identifiers and Variables

10 Lessons

Break apart Perl identifiers, variables, strings, numbers, lists, and Unicode handling.

Exercise: Formatting Data

Solution Review: Formatting Data

Quiz: Data Types

Control Flow: Conditionals and Looping

16 Lessons

Break down complex control flow and looping constructs in Perl. Apply efficient coding practices.

Branching Directives: if, unless, else, elsif

The Ternary Conditional Operator

Conditional Directives and Context

Looping Directives: foreach, for

Iteration: Aliasing and Scoping

Looping Directives: The C-style for Loop

Looping Directives: while and until

Loops Within Loops

Loop Control: next, last, redo, continue

Switch Statements: given, when, default

Tailcall Optimization

Exercise: Find a Number in a List

Solution Review: Find a Number in a List

Exercise: Implement the Sieve of Eratosthenes

Solution Review: Implement the Sieve of Eratosthenes

Quiz: Control Flow

Data Structures

14 Lessons

Deepen your knowledge of Perl’s scalars, arrays, hashes, coercion, and practical exercises.

Scalars

Arrays

Array Operations and Slices

Context and Array Interpolation

Exercise: Reverse a Hash

Solution Review: Reverse a Hash

Exercise: Occurrences of a Subarray in an Array

Solution Review: Occurrences of a Subarray in an Array

Quiz: Data Structures

Packages and References

9 Lessons

Investigate Perl packages and references for efficient, maintainable code and data structures.

Packages

Introduction to References

Types of References I

Types of References II

Nested Data Structures

References and Nested Data Structures

Exercise: Sum All Elements of a Nested Array

Solution: Sum All Elements of a Nested Array

Quiz: Packages and References

Operators

5 Lessons

Piece together the parts of Perl operators’ characteristics, types, and practical exercises.

Operator Characteristics

Operator Types

Exercise: Make a Diamond

Solution Review: Make a Diamond

Quiz: Operators

Functions

21 Lessons

Get familiar with using Perl functions, parameters, namespaces, closures, and AUTOLOAD for dynamic method handling.

Declaring and Invoking Functions

Function Parameters

Function Signatures

Manipulating Function Arguments

Functions and Namespaces

Reporting Errors

Advanced Functions

Pitfalls and Misfeatures

State vs Closures and Pseudo-State

Attributes

AUTOLOAD

Drawbacks of AUTOLOAD

Exercise: Batch Calculator

Solution Review: Batch Calculator

Exercise: Writing an AUTOLOAD Function

Solution Review: Writing an AUTOLOAD() Function

Quiz: Functions

Regular Expressions and Matching

17 Lessons

Grasp the fundamentals of using Perl's powerful regex features for efficient text processing.

Introduction to Regular Expressions and Matching

Grouping and Alternation

Other Escape Sequences and Assertions

Regex Modifiers

Smart Matching

Exercise: Extract Email Addresses

Solution Review: Extract Email Addresses

Exercise: Format Data

Solution Review: Format Data

Quiz: Regular Expressions and Matching

10.

Objects

16 Lessons

Break apart key OOP concepts in Perl using Moose for efficient, maintainable code.

Introduction to Objects

Method Lookup and Inheritance

Reflection

Advanced OO Perl

Exercise: Implement Inheritance

Solution Review: Implement Inheritance

Quiz: Objects

11.

Style and Efficacy

10 Lessons

Enhance your skills in writing maintainable, idiomatic, and effective Perl code, handling exceptions, and using pragmas.

Programming Well in Perl

Writing Maintainable Perl

Writing Idiomatic Perl

Writing Effective Perl

Exceptions

Exception Caveats and Built-in Exceptions

Pragmas

Exercise: Exception Handling

Solution Review: Exception Handling

Quiz: Style and Efficacy

12.

Managing Real Programs

18 Lessons

Deepen your knowledge of efficient program management in Perl, focusing on testing, file handling, and modular design.

Testing

Better Comparison and Organization of Tests

Handling Warnings

Opening Files

Reading and Writing to Files

Special File Handling Variables

Directories and Paths

File Manipulation

Modules

Distributions

The UNIVERSAL Package

Code Generations

Compile-time Manipulation

Overloading

Taint

Exercise: Sentence-wise Reversing a File

Solution Review: Sentence-wise Reversing a File

Quiz: Management of Real Programs

13.

Perl Beyond Syntax

4 Lessons

Investigate advanced Perl idioms, effective code management, and safely handling global variables for maintainable code.

Idioms

Idioms: Part 2

Global Variables

Quiz: Perl Patterns and Idioms

14.

What to Avoid

7 Lessons

Preempt errors by avoiding Perl's barewords, indirect objects, and complex prototypes.

Barewords

Indirect Objects

Prototypes

Problems and Uses of Prototypes

Method-Function Equivalence

Tie

Quiz: What to Avoid

15.

Perl and Its Community

3 Lessons

Step through Perl's rich community, CPAN resources, and efficient installation management tools.

Communities and Development Sites

The CPAN

CPAN installations

16.

Next Steps with Perl

3 Lessons

Discover the logic behind essential Perl modules, CPAN tools, and continuous learning strategies.

Useful Core Modules

What's Next?

Congratulations!

17.

Appendix

1 Lessons

Examine essential Perl testing modules for enhancing software quality and maintainability.

Perl Testing Modules

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