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Softpanorama Perl Bulletin, 2003

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This is a very limited coverage of Perl news. For a better source of Perl news for 2003 please check  Perl.com

fsync

Fsync is a Perl script which allows for file synchronization between remote hosts, containing functionality similar to that of the rsync and CVS packages. Since fsync is a single Perl script, setting up file synchronization on a new machine is relatively simple. Communication between the hosts is via a socket mechanism, with the remote server started by rsh, by ssh or manually. The program was written with slow modem connections in mind. Fsync supports the concept of merging differences from local/remote hosts with hooks for tools to merge the trees. Fsync requires perl 5.004 or newer. This program is licensed under the GNU Public License.

perlwm

perlwm is a window manager written in Perl. It allows users to configure both the appearance and behaviour of the window manager through Perl scripting.

sendEmail

SendEmail is a lightweight tool written in Perl for sending SMTP email from the console. It was designed to be used in bash scripts, Perl programs, and Web pages. It requires no special modules, and has a simple interface, making it very easy to install and use. It should work on any platform that has Perl and supports Unix sockets, but was designed for Linux.

SendmailMilter

Sendmail::Milter is a Perl extension to sendmail's Mail Filter API. With this module, you can define mail filtering actions in Perl that hook into sendmail 8.11 or higher.

pdoc

Pdoc is a Perl library which provides a number of methods to automate the documentation procedure, parsing specific file formats and converting them to other formats. It features Perl module parsing capabilities and conversion to HTML.

html2perl

html2perl automates the process of converting HTML or any ASCII text format into a series of Perl print statements with appropriate character escaping and terminating of new lines. This output can then be cut-and-pasted into Perl CGI scripts.

CGI Journal

CGI Journal allows you to keep a daily journal of what is going on in your life. It was designed to be simple, fast, and efficient, without all the eye candy. It's written in Perl, and requires nothing more than the CGI Perl module, which comes standard with Perl. It can also convert PHP Journal dump files and vice versa.

VSH

VSH is a configurable file manager for UN*X systems. It is coded in Perl, using the Perl/Tk module.

Perl WebStats

Perl WebStats is a comprehensive statistical package for analyzing site traffic from web server logs. It uses an OO-based module system for creating custom reports, and the reporting engine allows you to customise the look and feel, letting you brand the reports for your clients. It works well for a single site or for mass-deployment with ISPs. Commercial support/development is available.

EC Email Client

EC is an email reader and composer written using Perl and the Perl/Tk GUI libraries. It supports reading, composing, and sorting messages in user-defined folders, and allows users to send and recieve file attachments.

testmail

testmail is a Perl script that checks email availability at the POP3 server, filters it according to defined rules, and--depending on the selected method--gets the messages to the local mailbox and/or removes it from the server. It uses Perl libnet module and helps you escape from spam.

Perl Webmail

Perl Webmail is a CGI/mod_perl application that interfaces with external POP3 and SMTP services. It provides all the expected functionality of a mail client, such as read, reply, forward, delete, as well as sending and receiving attachments, storage for mail folders, contacts, and calendar notes.

KAKE PAD

KAKE PAD is a GUI text/file editor written entirely in Perl with the Perl/Tk module. It provides some advanced features that make it good for writting and debugging Perl and other types of scripts easily. Version 4.3 and later also supports plugins.

ptkdb

ptkdb is a debugger for Perl with a Tk GUI. Features include push button controls, restart, expression evaluation window, conditional breakpoints, and hot variables. This is not a GUI wrapper on the existing debugger, but a new debugger built from the ground up. It is compatible with Unix and Windows versions of Perl, and can be used to debug Apache CGI Perl scripts as they run on the server.

perl.com Perl Design Patterns, Part 2 [Aug. 07, 2003]

A code reference is like any reference in Perl, but what it points to is a subroutine you can call. For instance, I could write:
    my $doubler = sub { return 2 * $_[0]; };
Then later in my program I would call that routine as:
    my $doubled = &$doubler(5);  # $doubled is now 10
This example is contrived. But it lets you see the basic syntax of code references. If you assign a sub to a variable, you receive a code reference by the grace of Perl. To call the sub stored in the reference put an & in front of the variable which stores it. This is like we do for other references, as in this standard hash walker:
    foreach my $key (keys %$hash_reference) { ... }
The & is the sigil (or funny character) for subroutines, just like @ and % are the sigils for arrays and hashes.
Many patterns in GoF and outside it can be implemented well in Perl with code references. Languages which don't provide code references are missing an important type.