Perl Scripting Seminar

Presented by Hands-On Technology Transfer

Hands On Technology Transfer Computer Training

Bring this seminar on-site to your facility for groups of 10 or more.

This hands-on Perl Programming course presents a thorough introduction to the Perl scripting language emphasizing the rapid development of portable and modular Perl programs and scripts

Course Description

This hands-on Perl Programming course presents a thorough introduction to the Perl scripting language emphasizing the rapid development of portable and modular Perl programs and scripts. Students are introduced to all major language elements including built-in data types, powerful operators, flow control and robust built-in functions. The course also covers the use of command line processing, file and directory I/O to create flexible and user friendly programs. Attendees will also be introduced to object-oriented programming in Perl as well as how to use pattern matching with Regular Expressions and string handling functions to manipulate files and data. Students will learn to create reusable code using subroutines, modules, and Perl's object-oriented architecture to deploy business logic across many programs and scripts to enhance maintainability and scalability.

Students will also learn to use the DBI Perl module to write programs that provide a consistent database interface independent of the actual database being used. Comprehensive hands on exercises will be completed throughout the course to reinforce key concepts and practice debugging techniques. Students are shown how to extend Perl's basic functionality with packages and loadable modules. Attendees who also want an introduction to CGI Programming should attend the five-day Perl Programming and CGI Scripting course instead of this course.

Course Prerequisites: Prior scripting experience or knowledge of fundamental programming concepts.

What You Will Learn

Language Syntax
Pattern Matching with Regular Expressions
Flow Control
Arrays, Hashes and Complex Data Structures
File and Directory I/O
Subroutines and Scope
Procedural and Object Oriented Programming
Classes, Objects and Methods
Interaction with Databases - DBI
Command Line Interaction
Debugging

Workshop Agenda

Introduction to Perl Origin and Design Goals of Perl Overview of Perl Features Getting and Installing Perl Accessing Documentation via perldoc HTML-Format Reference Documentation Perl Strengths and Limitations	Getting Started With Perl Explicit Invocation of the Perl Interpreter Running Perl on UNIX vs. Windows Running Perl from the Command Line Using Command Line Options Using Debug Mode Implicit Invocation of the Perl Interpreter Running and Debugging Perl Scripts Simple and Compound Statements Fundamental Input Techniques Using the print Function to Generate Standard Output
Using Variables Scalar Variables Introduction to Standard Data Types Retrieving Standard Input Using the Default Variable $_ Reserved Scalar Variables Assigning Strings and Numbers to Scalar Variables Declaring Constants for Persistent Values Using strict to Declare Variables	Pattern Matching in Perl Regular Expressions in Perl Using Pattern Matching Operators Altering Data with Substitutions in Regular Expressions Using Backreferences to Capture Data from Regular Expression Matching Global and Case-Insensitive Matches Altering Data with Character Translation Using Variables in Patterns
Operators Introduction to Fundamental Operators Operator Precedence and Associativity Using the Ternary Operator ?: as a Shortcut for the if Statement Using <FILEHANDLE> and <> File I/O Operators for Standard Input/Output Using the Shortcut Operators +=, -=, *=, /=	String Manipulation String Comparison String Relations Concatenation Substring Manipulation Using chomp and chop to Eliminate EOL Characters Escape Characters for Formatting String Manipulation Functions
Flow Control: Conditional Statements and Looping Conditional Expressions and Logical Operators if/else/elsif and unless Constructing switch/case Equivalent Expressions while Loops and do Loops for and foreach Loops Labels Altering Program Flow with next, last, and redo Trapping Errors with the eval Function Terminating a Script with exit	Subroutines and Parameters Simplifying Scripts with Subroutines Defining and Calling a Subroutine Passing Arguments by Value Passing Arguments by Reference Using return to Return a Value Controlling Variable Scope using my and local Keywords
Arrays and Hashes Defining Numeric Index Arrays Defining Associative Arrays Sorting Arrays with the sort Function Adding and Deleting Items Using push, pop, shift, and unshift Using slice, splice, and reverse Other Array Manipulation Techniques Looping through an Array Merging Arrays Associative Array Manipulation Functions Introduction to Hashes Preallocating Memory to Optimize Hash Performance	Packages and Modules The Power of Packages and Modules Introduction to Standard Modules Where to Find Modules on the Internet Installing a Module on UNIX or Windows Creating Packages for Portability Using Packages to Create Isolated Namespaces and to Separate Code Creating Modules Creating and Using Symbols in a Module Using the Exporter to Export Symbols from a Perl Module
File and Directory I/O Using open and close File Open Modes Reading Files into Arrays Retrieving File Metadata Built-in File Management Functions Using print and write File Test Operators Directory Manipulation Using opendir, closedir, readdir, chdir, mkdir and rmdir	Input/Output Processing Parsing Input Using Standard Input, Standard Output, and Standard Error String and Field Processing Using Streams and Pipes Using die to Quit with an Error Redirecting Standard Output and Standard Error to a File Getting Standard Input from a File
Implementing Command Line Arguments Reading Command Line Arguments from @ARGV Read Files Explicitly with <ARGV> and Implicitly with <> Manipulating Positional Parameters with push, pop, shift Process Lists of Files Processing Command Line Options with getopt or getopts Analyzing Command Line Argument Values with the Getopt::Std and Getopt::Long Modules Reserved Variables Manipulating Identifiable Options Using GetOptions	Perl Report Formatting Defining Report Formats Justifying Text (Left, Right, Center) Using write to Generate Reports Defining here Documents for Report Customization Creating Report Headers Using Built-in Variables to Control Report Appearance Printing Line Numbers on a Report Formatting Multi-Line Output Writing Formatted Text to a File
Debugging In Perl Using the Built-in Perl Debugger Starting the Debugger Debugger Command Syntax Checking for Script Syntax Errors Solving Compile-Time Errors Single-Stepping through a Script Executing to Breakpoints Setting Global Watches Printing Values of Variables Listing All Variables Used in the Script Using Strict Error Checking Quitting the Debugger	References Life Cycle of a Reference Hard References and Anonymous References Use of References to Create Complex Data Structures Creating Hard and Anonymous References Modifying References Dereferencing a Reference The Arrow Operator -> Building Complex Data Structures with Multi-Dimensional Arrays and Hashes
Accessing a Database Using Perl DBI Database Access Life Cycle Using DBI and DBD to Connect to a Database Fundamental Data Storage and Retrieval Strategies DBI Query Syntax Using DBI Methods to Retrieve Database Information Preparing Queries to be Executed Creating Parameterized Queries Executing Queries Using execute and do Fetching the Result Set to Achieve Workable Data in the Perl Script Extracting Data Using an Array Extracting Data Using a Hash Useful Utilities to Aid in Database Development Using Other Modules to Access Databases on the Web Extracting Data Using a Hash Displaying Results from Queries in a Report Releasing Database Resources	Perl Object Oriented Programming Object Oriented Programming Concepts Object Oriented Programming Terminology How Perl Implements Object Oriented Programming Modeling Software Objects Using Classes and Base Classes Creating Classes, Objects, Methods and Attributes Writing Constructors to Initialize of Objects Using bless to Turn References into Objects Creating Class Hierarchies through Inheritance

More Seminar Information

Hands-On Technology Transfer
Summary	This hands-on Perl Programming course presents a thorough introduction to the Perl scripting language emphasizing the rapid development of portable and modular Perl programs and scripts
Delivery Method	Seminar
Also Available As	On-Site Training
Who Should Attend	Computer Industry Professionals