Chapter 2
Review of the Basics

Here's what we want to be sure you know and have before we get into the new stuff.

• an editor in which you build your source files
• a shell in which you test them
• a browser in which you search and consult the on-line manual
• Get the most out of your browser.
• Use telnet when the Web server and Perl interpreter are on a remote Unix host.
• If you don't already have a Web server, install Netscape's FastTrack Web server on your Windows 95, NT, or Unix desktop.
• If you don't already have one, get:
  • the latest Perl interpreter for Unix (requires gnuzip and a C compiler to install)
  • a Perl interpreter for NT

    Note: NT does not recognize the Unix #! ("shebang") convention. One solution is to use the PL2BAT utility (included with NT Perl) that packages a Perl script inside a .bat file. The preferred solution is to update the registry to recognize and process .pl files with the Perl interpreter.

    Installation procedure:
    1. Download the self-installing binary -- named, e.g. Pw32i310.exe -- Perl for Win32 Intel/x86
    2. Run it. Choose a directory in which to install Perl, e.g. C:\PERL.
    3. Choose to associate the .pl filename extension with the Perl interpreter.
    4. Documentation will be installed in the \docs\ sub-directory.
    5. You may need to reboot to update the PATH.

Perl usage:

• Running Perl (Hello World on your command line)
• Testing your webserver (Hello World in your browser)
• Using Perl Libraries
• Perl Data Structures
• Perl Modules and Subroutines
• Larry Wall's comments on Perl style
• Object-Oriented Perl

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Updated Wednesday, 31-Oct-2001 14:25:03 CST

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