We reviewed Beautiful Code by Wilson and Oram earlier this week, so we wanted to do a review of a book that we recommend specifically for Perl programmers–given that we have some pretty serious Perl programmers on staff. The book most recommended is Programming Perl, 3rd Edition by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen and Jon Orwant. Affectionately known by Perl programmers as “The Camel” due to the O’Reilly animal on the cover, this book first surfaced in 1988 and has been updated throughout the years by its authoritative Perl authors–the inventor of Perl (Wall), one of Perl’s first champions (Christiansen), and editor of The Perl Journal (Orwant). Some glowing reviews from different sites:

“This programming book was by far the best I’ve read from any company. This is the first book I got from Oreilly, and the first book I got on PERL – and I was amazingly surprised that a “text book” could be written so well. The book is very well designed, with just enough off-topicness to keep the book interesting while reading it. In many ways this book seems more like a story book than the old mundane books I read in the past from other companies. I highly respect this book , and hope that I can find other books from this same company for other subjects.” — David T (via O’Reilly.com)

“This book is great! It is like no other language book I have read. I could actually read this book miles away from a computer and still feel confident in Perl…“–Steve (via O’Reilly.com)

“This book is very well written and has a lovely style to it unusual in computing books. It makes easy work of difficult concepts.”–Rebecca (via O’Reilly.com)

“Without question, this book explains Perl from the inside out, covering all grounds. Programmers can rely on this book for their in-depth knowledge, and have it as a reference.”–Leonardo C. (via Amazon.com)

“This is the definitive book on Perl. First off, it’s from Larry, the main who invented and is maintaining Perl. Second, it’s a very well written and edited book that provides some concise material both on the syntax and the philosophy of Perl. A must read for Perl programmers. Period.”–Jack D. Herrington (via Amazon.com)

So, if you want to get a great insight into Perl and have handy the definitive guide to programming in Perl, we definitely suggest you pick up a copy! For a limited time only, the e-book is available as a free bonus if you order Perl Dev Kit from ActiveState during the month of March. Enjoy!
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