Re: Unwritten Perl Books

[graff]

The Year's Best Perl Essays (a diverse anthology)

... kinda like "The Year's Best Science Fiction Short Stories"...

Am I the only one with a short attention span? A lot of the particular things I'd like to read regarding Perl shouldn't have to be book-length. (Maybe that's why I spend so much of my free time roaming through the Monastery, instead of reading books.)

I was tempted to say "who needs books when you have perldoc?" But I can't deny that some documentation authors seem to be less equal to the task than others, and some supplemental reading can be handy in certain cases. I couldn't read a whole book about "pack/unpack", but something a bit more "expository and demonstrative" than the description in perlfunc -- e.g. having the length of serious journal article -- would be nifty. (Mind you, I don't blame the author of that man-page section, or demean his/her efforts: I doubt I could do better on such a vast topic.)

[itub]

I agree with what you say, but I just wanted to point out that recent versions of perl (such as 5.8.x) come with a "perlpacktut" document, among other new tutorials. I know it was just a random example, but my point is that perldoc does improve over time, as people volunteer to write documents that they think may be helpful for others.

[merlyn]

Well, you could start by reading every one of my 201 (and counting) "short stories" at my column archive. And I bet in the two months it takes you to do that (and comprehend!) I'll have done five more for your reading pleasure.

[stvn]

The Year's Best Perl Essays (a diverse anthology)

Not quite this years best, but the Best of The Perl Journal collections are definitely worth a look.