Advanced Topics in Perl

Length: 3-5 days

Prerequisites: Students in this class should already have been programming in Perl for at least a year.

Advanced Topics in Perl covers the construction and operations of modules, the Exporter, Perl's namespace structure, object-oriented programming, advanced use of subroutines, exception handling, the debugger, and the Perl symbol table. It overlaps Intermediate Topics in Perl and Object-Oriented Programming. Longer versions incorporate the short Regular Expression Mastery class.

The outline below takes four and a half days to complete. If desired, section V , XIII, or both may be omitted, to produce a shorter class; Regular Expression Mastery can be added toward the end, to produce a longer class; and a sped-up, labless version of Hands-On Introduction to Perl can be added at the beginning as a refresher for programmers whose Perl is rusty.

As with all my classes, Advanced Topics in Perl can be custom-tailored to suit your students and your schedule. I will work with you to develop a curriculum that meets the goals of your training.

Advanced Topics in Perl was designed for intermediate and experienced Perl programmers who want to take the next step and become experts.

• I. Exporting Modules
  • Why Modules?
  • Example Module: Socket.pm
  • use
  • Encapsulation; namespaces; packages
  • Extended package names
  • Lexical variables
  • Importation and Exportation
  • Writing Modules; missing modules; missing function
  • The Exporter
  • Unexported functions
  • @EXPORT and @EXPORT_OK
  • Several modules in the same file
  • carp
  • Did Not Return a True Value
  • Lab 1
    
• II. Introduction to CPAN
  • What is CPAN?
  • search.cpan.org
    
• III. Module Support Services
  • Makefile.PL
  • Installation; distribution
  • Version numbers
  • h2xs
  • Testing; Test::Harness; Test::Simple; Test::More
  • Lab 3
    
• IV. Useful Modules and OOP Syntax Introduction
  • Email; mail transport; SMTP; envelopes
  • Sending mail; Mail::Send
  • Digression: OO Notation
  • Net::SMTP
    
  • LWP::Simple
    
  • Serialization: FreezeThaw; Data::Dumper
    
  • Parse::RecDescent: grammar; usage. results
    
  • Caching; Memoizing; Memoize
    
• V. Review of references and coumpound data structures (if necessary)
  • Why References?
  • Make rules 1 and 2
  • Use rules 1 and 2
  • Two-dimensional arrays; arrow rule
  • City-Country Problem
  • Hash of arrays
  • Printing out a reference
  • Symbolic references; strict refs
  • Finding the type of a reference
  • Copying vs. aliasing
  • Code references
  • Schwartzian transform
    
• VI. Basic Object-Oriented Programming
  • Why OOP?
  • Methods
  • Classes
  • Typical OO Program
  • Constructors
  • Object methods; accessor methods
  • Class vs. Object Methods
  • "Indirect object" style
  • Change of implementation; Broken encapsulation boundaries
  • Review of OO Concepts
  • Lab 6
    
• VII: Inheritance
  • Summary of OOP
  • Inheritance; jargon
  • Setting up inheritance in Perl; @ISA
  • Multiple Inheritance
  • Exporter Again
  • Constructors revisited
  • Empty subclass test
  • Overridden methods; partial inheritance
  • Delegation
  • Refactoring
  • Abstract classes; HTML::Parser example
  • Lab 7
    
• VIII: Advanced Techniques
  • Memory management in perl
  • Reference counts; reference loops
  • DESTROY
  • UNIVERSAL Methods
  • Polymorphism
  • Encapsulation strategies:
    • Flyweight scalars
    • Anonymous subroutines as objects; closures
    • Tie::SecureHash; public, private, and protected data; key collisions
  • Class::Struct
  • Lab 8
    
• IX: Subroutines
  • Subroutine arguments; pass by reference
  • Hashes as lists; reverse trick
  • Named parameter style
  • Dispatch tables
  • State machines; NNTP example
  • Lab 9
    
• X: The Perl Symbol Table
  • Globs
  • Operations with globs
  • Aliasing; exportation; inheritable exportation
  • Forced importing / aliasing
  • Passing filehandles; lexically scoped filehandles
  • Miscellaneous applications of globs; read-only constants
  • Glob objects
  • Extended example: Templating system
  • Lab 10
    
• XI: Error Handling
  • The Perl builtin debugger
  • $!
  • Exceptions; exception handling; CPAN exception modules
  • strict; 'strict vars'; 'strict subs'
  • Warnings; perldiag
    
• XII: Autoloading
  • What is Autoloading?
  • Magic goto
  • Case-insensitive function calls
  • Function call caching
  • Typical AUTOLOAD use: Accessor Methods; direct emulation of accessors; caching accessor methods
  • Autoloading from a file
  • Import.pm module
  • Shell.pm
    
• XIII: Network Programming
  • Addresses; host names; DNS; gethostbyname; gethostbyaddr
  • IP; UDP; TCP
  • Sockets
  • Setting up a Network Client
  • Buffering; typical buffering problem; disabling buffering
  • Using a Network Client
  • Setting up a Network Server
  • select
  • Other Utilities
  • Lab 13a
    
  • Net::FTP
  • Net::Telnet
  • ident Service

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