Geoffrey Sampson is a British university teacher. After studying Oriental languages and computing at the University of Cambridge and at Yale University in the USA, he spent the earlier part of his career teaching linguistics, and the later part teaching informatics, specializing in e-business and leg...
Perl is a popular programming language, often mentioned in job adverts. It is heavily used for system admin, and for Web development. And it is fun. Compared with Perl, other languages can feel worthy but tedious.
However, few universities use Perl as a teaching language. Hence the need for a self-instruction textbook, like this one.
Beginners need to focus on the core of the language, bypassing features which are not essential in the early stages. This book does that: it covers all you need to write successful Perl programs, while shielding you from confusing inessentials.