By
Mark Dominus, Plover Systems Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Description
Most Perl programmers were originally trained as C and Unix programmers, so the Perl programs that they write bear a strong resemblance
to C programs. However, Perl incorporates many features that have their roots in other languages such as Lisp. These advanced features
are not well understood and are rarely used by most Perl programmers, but they are very powerful. They can automate tasks in everyday
programming that are difficult to solve in any other way. One of the most powerful of these techniques is writing functions that manufacture
or modify other functions. For example, instead of writing ten similar functions, a programmer can write a general pattern or framework
that can then create the functions as needed according to the pattern. For several years Mark Jason Dominus has worked to apply functional
programming techniques to Perl. Now Mark brings these flexible programming methods that he has successfully taught in numerous tutorials
and training sessions to a wider audience.
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced Perl programmers
