VANCOUVER, British Columbia – March 21, 2007 – ActiveState, the leading provider of tools and services for dynamic languages, today announced the release of Perl Dev Kit (PDK) 7.0, their multi-platform suite of tools for developing and deploying Perl applications.
PDK provides essential tools for building self-contained, easily deployable executables for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, AIX and HP-UX. The comprehensive feature set also includes a graphical debugger and code coverage and hotspot analyzer, as well as tools for building sophisticated Perl-based filters and easily converting useful VBScript code to Perl.
PDK 7.0 introduces the code coverage and hotspot analysis tool, Coverage Analyzer, improving code performance and reliability through coverage experiments and data set comparisons. Coverage Analyzer easily identifies untested or bottleneck code, allowing users to address performance issues before executables are deployed. The feature extends popular Perl module Devel::Cover, speeding interpretation of results through syntax highlighting and an intuitive interface, and adding new functionality for simplifying management of code changes over time.
"Coverage Analyzer, like all PDK's tools, is about ease-of-use: the ability for anyone to create a quality Perl application and then deploy it to coworkers or clients anywhere," says Jan Dubois, lead developer, PDK. "Coverage analysis is only as good as your understanding of the results, so by presenting even highly complex data in a readily usable format, Coverage Analyzer makes it easy to optimize code."
With this release, Perl programmers also get the latest version of PerlApp, the most advanced tool for creating and deploying Perl executables to all major platforms. Heuristic refinements provide sophisticated module wrapping to improve executable performance, and Unix versions have been redesigned to use dynamically-linked runtime libraries, for significantly smaller executables.
"We use PDK to provide our customers with critical network management applications written in Perl. With the new dynamically-linked runtime libraries, we can enhance these applications with functionality from key modules—and even provide smaller exes," said Mike Gent, Virtual Expanse Innovations. "I highly recommend the new PDK to any Perl developer."
PDK 7.0 also extends platform support to Mac OS X, allowing new users to take advantage of PerlApp and PDK's other valuable tools. Additionally, native 64-bit support is now available for Windows (x64), Linux (x64) and Solaris (Sparc).
ActiveState also distributes ActivePerl, the complete, ready-to-install Perl distribution for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, AIX and HP-UX.
Availability
PDK 7.0 is available in three editions. PDK Productivity Tools and PDK Deployment Tools are targeted bundles, available for special release pricing of $115.00 (regular price: $145.00). PDK Pro Pack combines PDK Productivity and Deployment Tools in a single, high-value bundle, with special release pricing of $195.00 (regular price: $245.00). Upgrade pricing and education licenses are also available. Release specials end April 20, 2007. All editions are available now at https://www.activestate.com//perl-dev-kit.
PDK Pro Pack is also available with ActivePerl Pro Studio, a subscription-based service that also includes the recently released Komodo IDE 4.0, Safari Books Online, and the PerlAlert newsletter.
