Why can't I upgrade my digital edition? Not that books are that expensive but if the original is work $20 why is the same thing with a few minor changes still $20?
Great that they removed the preface from the example chapters. Now, you can't find out what has changed in this edition. I saw a reference to StackOverflow in the introduction that I guess wasn't there in the previous version. But apart from that I have no clue if I should get it ...
The text is updated for the latest version, Perl 5.14, and some of the code only works with that version. We note in the text when we are talking about a Perl 5.14 feature, and we mark those code sections with a special use statement that ensures you’re using the right version:
use 5.014; # this script requires Perl 5.14 or greater
If you don’t see that use 5.014 in a code example (or a similar statement with a different version), it should work all the way back to Perl 5.8. To see which version of Perl you have, try the -v command-line switch:
$ perl -v
Here’s some of the new features from Perl 5.14 that we cover, and where appropriate, we still show you the old ways of doing the same thing:
* We include Unicode examples and features where appropriate. If you haven’t started playing with Unicode, we include a primer in Appendix C. You have to bite the bullet sometime, so it might as well be now. You’ll see Unicode throughout the book, most notably in the chapters on Scalars (Chapter 2), Input/Output (Chapter 5), and Sorting (Chapter 14).
* There is more information in the regular expression chapters, covering the new features from Perl 5.14 to deal with Unicode case-folding. The regular expression operators have new /a, /u, and /l switches. We now cover matching by Unicode properties with the \p{} and \P{} regular expression features.
* Perl 5.14 adds a nondestructive substitution operator (Chapter 9), which turns out to be really handy.
* Smart matching and given-when has mutated a bit since their introduction in Perl 5.10, so we update Chapter 15 to cover the new rules.
* We updated and expanded Perl Modules (Chapter 11) to include the latest news, including the zero-conf cpanm tool. We add some more module examples as well.
* Some of the items previously in Appendix B, the advanced-but-not-demonstrated features, move into the main text. Notably, that includes the fat arrow => moving into Hashes (Chapter 6) and splice moving into Lists and Arrays (Chapter 3).
One could argue that Perl 5 has gotten interesting again lately, and that the versions since the last edition are responsible for some of that. Smart match, given/when, a number of refinements that can reduce ambiguity, etc.
And, of course Learning Perl is often a new Perl programmer's first experience with the language...it's good for them to learn current best practices from day one.
Its good to know that there is an updated version of the book. I've never read the book myself but its handy to recommend to friends/clients/etc that I deal with.
[+] [-] nnutter|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] naner|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hendrik-xdest|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gnufs|14 years ago|reply
P.6. Changes from the Previous Edition
The text is updated for the latest version, Perl 5.14, and some of the code only works with that version. We note in the text when we are talking about a Perl 5.14 feature, and we mark those code sections with a special use statement that ensures you’re using the right version:
If you don’t see that use 5.014 in a code example (or a similar statement with a different version), it should work all the way back to Perl 5.8. To see which version of Perl you have, try the -v command-line switch: Here’s some of the new features from Perl 5.14 that we cover, and where appropriate, we still show you the old ways of doing the same thing:* We include Unicode examples and features where appropriate. If you haven’t started playing with Unicode, we include a primer in Appendix C. You have to bite the bullet sometime, so it might as well be now. You’ll see Unicode throughout the book, most notably in the chapters on Scalars (Chapter 2), Input/Output (Chapter 5), and Sorting (Chapter 14).
* There is more information in the regular expression chapters, covering the new features from Perl 5.14 to deal with Unicode case-folding. The regular expression operators have new /a, /u, and /l switches. We now cover matching by Unicode properties with the \p{} and \P{} regular expression features.
* Perl 5.14 adds a nondestructive substitution operator (Chapter 9), which turns out to be really handy.
* Smart matching and given-when has mutated a bit since their introduction in Perl 5.10, so we update Chapter 15 to cover the new rules.
* We updated and expanded Perl Modules (Chapter 11) to include the latest news, including the zero-conf cpanm tool. We add some more module examples as well.
* Some of the items previously in Appendix B, the advanced-but-not-demonstrated features, move into the main text. Notably, that includes the fat arrow => moving into Hashes (Chapter 6) and splice moving into Lists and Arrays (Chapter 3).
[+] [-] heyrhett|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] riffraff|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zackattack|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] KevinMS|14 years ago|reply
How is this any different than the previous 5 editions? And if not, why should anybody care there is a new version? And how is this hacker newsworthy?
[+] [-] SwellJoe|14 years ago|reply
And, of course Learning Perl is often a new Perl programmer's first experience with the language...it's good for them to learn current best practices from day one.
[+] [-] draegtun|14 years ago|reply
Have a look at http://www.learning-perl.com/ where the author (brian d foy) blogs on the updates made.
why should anybody care there is a new version?
Its good to know that there is an updated version of the book. I've never read the book myself but its handy to recommend to friends/clients/etc that I deal with.
And how is this hacker newsworthy?
Not sure but perhaps the upcoming 4th edition of Programming Perl due in October is newsworthy? http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596004927
[+] [-] pwaring|14 years ago|reply