A great book for beginning programmers who want to learn Perl. Filled with concrete examples and, yes, by using this book you will be able to write good Perl code on your own in 21 days. But no perlson is an island, and there is no single book that covers Perl completely, so we recommend that you also get Programming Perl, which is better at providing the language specifications, and, in fact, was written by the author of Perl. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. / Sams Pub. / This tutorial and reference starts with the basics and then builds upon them. Through various teaching elements, users learn how to manipulate text, generate reports, and perform system tasks using the Perl language. "Assumes no prior programming knowledge or experience. Covers topics such as scalar values, string functions, reading and writing files, debugging, system variables, associative arrays, and subroutines. Uses Q&A sections, step-by-step instructions, daily".