perl links

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Win32 Perl Links

With so much information on Perl available on the Internet it can be quite difficult to find exactly what you are looking for. This is why we have compiled a list of links that may help guide you while on your journey the the vast net of Perl resources.

Official Perl sites

Win32 Perl (as with Perl on other platforms) is available on the net in source code form for free. It, and most of its modules and extensions, are posted in particular web and FTP sites. You can download and compile them or you can download a precompiled binary.

The Official Perl Web Site

This site, hosted by O'Reilly & Associates is the site for perl resources. Here you will find cross platform scripts modules, information and stuff.

ActiveState's Web Site

These are the guys who brought the most useful version of Perl to the Win32 world. They not only distribute a working binary of Win32 Perl 5.005 but they also have a host of other useful packages ranging from Perl-to-executable compilers and Integrated Development Environment applications.

CPAN

CPAN (aka the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) consists of hundreds of servers across the Internet. When someone creates some useful module it is usually submitted to CPAN for the world to download and use.
CPAN has several mirror sites around the world which replicate frequrently. If you experience slow downloads then you may want to try a CPAN site closer to your locale. The CPAN FAQ is available online.

PerlMonks

The Perl Monks are a bunch of Perl people who discuss, write, hack and pretty much do everything else with Perl code. This is a great place to learn about Perl.

Win32 Perl Resources

Sure there is a wealth of information out on the web regarding Perl. For the most part you can find what you are looking for from the large search engines. This list, however, point out some of the more reliable and useful Win32 Perl resources.

Joe's Perl For Win32

Joe Casadonte's web site is pretty much the place to start. He covers everything from extensions to books and tutorials. His site is a required bookmark for any Win32 Perl coder.

The Perl Ring

The Perl Ring is a Web Ring dedicated to Perl. This is a great place to peruse the Internet's Perl releated sites.

Jutta Klebe's Web Site

Jutta provides some scripts and an extension for interacting with the Win32 Performance Monitor. You can use this to get virtually any performance counter you want--including the process list.

Jenda's Perl Pages

Jenda always has some interesting and wonderful extensions, modules, scripts and other tidbits.

Aldo's Perl Lab

Aldo has been busy creating some of the most impacting Win32 extensions available. Extensions such as Win32::API and Win32::GUI. This site has quite a bit of useful information regarding his extensions.

DBI

The DBI (DataBase Interface) spec has been around long enough to be a viable means for interfacing Perl with almost any database engine. If you use databases and are not familiar with DBI then you should be. What ODBC has done for C/C++, DBI has done for Perl. There is even an ODBC DBI driver.

Amine Moulay Ramdane's Win32 Perl Modules

Amine has authored several very high powered Win32 Perl modules that provide a variety of necessary functions. From MAPI and Zip file support to NTFS and memory mapped files, these modules are not for the timid but provide a coder awesome functionality.

Perl Periodicals & Newsletters

If you are looking for Perl magazines and newsletters there are several of them to choose from. Raning from printed periodicals to email lists there is something for everyone.

The Perl Journal

This is the journal that is responsible for most of the communities reading entertainment. It is an quarterly periodical that typically has valuable articles and features from the most prominent and respected Perl community leaders and shakers.
If you have not tried this magazine you should.

Windows Scripting Solutions

This particular monthly periodical is about Windows scripting in general, so it covers Perl, VB and, yes, even batch files. Here is where you can find Dave Roth's montly column on Win32 Perl called Progressive Perl For Windows. This is available in both print and online but requires a subscription. Archives a year and older are publicly available.

Usenet groups

Some of you new to the Net may call these newsgroups but those of us who have been around for awhile throw around the term Usenet groups. Either way they are chock full of interesting ideas, banterings, suggestions and people willing to help.
The main groups are located on pretty much any news server:

comp.lang.perl	This is a now defunct general Perl discussion group. Even though some postings still are made to this group most serious Perl folks frequent the comp.lang.perl.misc group.
comp.lang.perl.misc	A miscellaneous Perl discussion group. This is where most people people post messages to.
comp.lang.perl.modules	This group is where you can post messages regarding Perl modules and extensions.
comp.lang.perl.moderated	Here is a useful group which discusses most any Perl topic. Since it is moderated don't be suprised if traffic is low and the messages are concise and well thought out.
alt.perl	This is an alternative Perl discussion group. It appears to be where many hacks frequent. You can find some pretty interesting stuff here.
alt.perl.sockets	This group discusses networking and socket related Perl issues.

Perl Package Repositories

You can use the Perl Package Manager (PPM) to automatically download and install various Perl packages and extensions. By default PPM is configured to connect to the ActiveState repository. Any search or installation request will default to ActiveState's repository.
You can add additional repositories or specify the location to a repository for a particular request.

ActiveState Tool Corp. Perl Repository

This is the default repository that Win32 Perl is configured to use. Most of the Perl extensions and modules that are available can be obtained using this repository.

Roth Consulting Repository

This is the Roth Consulting Respository. All of Roth Consulting's extensions and modules can be obtained from this site.

Jenda's Perl Directory

Jenda Krynicky's repository contains such important extensions as Win32::Lanman, Win32::FileOp and Win32::SetupSup.

Win32 Perl Extensions

There are just a plethora of Win32 Perl extensions available that enable Perl to do just amazing things. Some of the exciting ones that are out on the net are:

Win32::TaskScheduler

This is an extension that provides Perl scripts with a way to interact with the Windows Task Scheduler.

Win32::Lanman

This is Jens Helberg's infamous Win32 Perl extension that provides almost all networking based functionality that you would ever need. Plus more! You need this extension!

Win32::API

Aldo Calpini's legendary Win32 Perl extension that enables a Perl script to load any DLL and call into it's functions. This is another one that every system administrator must have!