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Mastering Modern Perl: Writing Efficient and Maintainable Code

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Introduction to Modern Perl

Overview of the Course Running Modern Perl

The Perl Philosophy

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

Identifiers Variables Values Unicode and Strings Implicit Conversions Numbers Lists Exercise: Formatting Data Solution Review: Formatting Data Quiz: Data Types

Control Flow: Conditionals and Looping

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

Scalars Arrays Array Operations and Slices Context and Array Interpolation Hashes Hash Keys and Values Hash Slices Hash Idioms Coercion 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

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

Operator Characteristics Operator Types Exercise: Make a Diamond Solution Review: Make a Diamond Quiz: Operators

Functions

Declaring and Invoking Functions

Function Parameters

Function Signatures

Manipulating Function Arguments

Functions and Namespaces

Reporting Errors

Advanced Functions

Pitfalls and Misfeatures

Types of Scope I

Types of Scope II

Anonymous Functions

State vs Closures and Pseudo-State

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

Introduction to Regular Expressions and Matching Regex Operators Quantifiers Greediness Regex Anchors Metacharachters Character Classes Capturing 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

Objects

Introduction to Objects Class and Methods Class Attributes Encapsulation Polymorphism Roles Inheritance Overriding Methods Moose and Perl OO Blessed References Method Lookup and Inheritance Reflection Advanced OO Perl Exercise: Implement Inheritance Solution Review: Implement Inheritance Quiz: Objects

Style and Efficacy

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

Managing Real Programs

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

Perl Beyond Syntax

Idioms Idioms: Part 2 Global Variables Quiz: Perl Patterns and Idioms

What to Avoid

Barewords Indirect Objects Prototypes Problems and Uses of Prototypes Method-Function Equivalence Tie Quiz: What to Avoid

Perl and Its Community

Communities and Development Sites The CPAN CPAN installations

Next Steps with Perl

Useful Core Modules What's Next?Congratulations!

Appendix

Perl Testing Modules

Advanced Functions

Learn about advanced functions in Perl.

We'll cover the following

Context awareness
Recursion
Lexicals
Tailcalls

Functions are the foundation of many advanced Perl features.

Context awareness

Perl’s built-ins know whether we’ve invoked them in void, scalar, or list context. So too can our functions. The wantarray built-in returns undef to signify void context, a false value to signify scalar context, and a true value to signify list context. Yes, it’s misnamed; see perldoc -f wantarray for proof.

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