Preface.

Perlness.
Who Are You?
What This Book Covers.
Getting Perl.
Typographical Conventions.
For Further Reference.
Perl Versions.

Acknowledgments.

1. Introduction.

• Reality.
• Why Perl?
• Know the Environment.
• Know the Language.
• Online Documentation.
• For Further Reference.

2. The Zen of Perl Developing.

• Attitudes.
• Beliefs.
• Behavior.
• Improve Your Craft.
• The Bottom Line

3. Antibugging.

• Beginning.
• Writing Code.
• Observation.
• Documentation.
• Developing.
• Accident Prevention.
• Tips for Reducing Complexity.

3. Perl Pitfalls.

5. Tracing Code.

• Tracing Code 80.

6. Testing Perl Programs.

• Inspection Testing.
• Unit Testing.
• System or Regression Testing.
• Saturation Testing.
• Acceptance Testing.

7. The Perl Debugger.

• Basic Operation of the Debugger.
• Starting the Debugger.
• Getting Graphical.

8. Syntax Errors.

• Typo Pathologies.
• A Menagerie of Typos.

9. Run-Time Exceptions.

• Symbolic References.
• Check That Return Code!
• Confession Is Good for the Soul.

10. Semantical Errors.

• A Bit Illogical.
• Reading Directories.
• But What Did It Mean?
• printf Formats Don't Impose Context.
• Conditional my.
• Bringing Some Closure.

11. Resource Failure

• Optimize for People First, Resources Later.
• Benchmark It!
• Making Things Better.

12. Perl as a Second Language.

• Tips for Everyman.
• Tips for the C programmer.
• Tips for the FORTRAN programmer.
• Tips for the shell programmer.
• Tips for the C++ or Java programmer.

13. Debugging CGI Programs.

• CGI.
• Web Servers.
• 500 — Server Error.
• Basics.
• Security.
• Heading Off Errors.
• cgi-test.
• Eavesdropping.
• CGI.pm.
• Command Line Testing.
• Dying Young.
• Debugger Interaction.
• ptkdb.

14. Conclusion.

• Finis.
• The End.
• This Really Is the End.

Appendix A: Perl Debugger Commands.

• General Syntax.
• Commands
• Options.
• Environment Variables.

Appendix B: Perls of Wisdom.

Index.

Authors | Synopsis | What's New?

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