Perl

• The Practical Extraction and Reporting Language
• A little newer than Unix.  Created in the age of AquaNet.
• Larry Wall created Perl, once named Pearl, in 1986, to create reports for his employer.
• It has blossomed since.
• In the mid 1990s, it was the most popular web programming language.
• Pre-dates many of today's web programming formats, such as server side java, asp, jsp, Cold Fusion, etc.
• Though its heyday has gone, it is still quite popular.
• Excellent for writing to a file, sending an e-mail, etc.
• A flagship for the open source movement.  Perl is open source.  What is open source?
• Many users groups exist.  One in Cincinnati as well.  http://cincinnati.pm.org/
• Can be used for database connectivity, but there are other choices for that as well.  We won't cover this in class.
• Ideal for free, or low budget projects.   http://www.robportman.com
• One of my favorites.
• Universally available.  Find it on most Unix servers.  You can also run it on Mac, Windows, etc.
• Free.  Open source.
• Easy to learn.
• Lots of scripts available.  Copy and paste existing scripts.