Duration: 5 days • Price: $2800.00 or £1650.00 +VAT (with hotel room), or $2350.00 or £1350.00 +VAT (without room), • Venue: Melksham, England

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• Monday 1 March 2010	• Monday 21 June 2010
• Monday 13 September 2010	• Monday 13 December 2010

This course covers programming in the Perl language. Whether you'll be using Perl for data manipulation tasks, administration scripts, or web interaction, you should start here.

The first sections of this course introduce you gently to computer programming, using practical examples in the Perl language and leads on to writing some simple application programs so that you can see how the elements all slot together.

The core of the course introduces further fundamental parts of Perl. You'll learn about topics such as: regular expressions, lists, subroutines and hashes, and you'll be taught how to use them together in both traditional (keyboard and screen) and Web server-based work.

The course concludes with sections on resources that are available, and a forward-looking lecture that overviews many more of the facilities available in Perl, and what they can do for you.

Basic computer knowledge. This course is also suitable for programmers who are converting to Perl; the Perl language differs from others and such trainees should start from fundamentals to unlearn some habits!

Getting the most from your Well House Consultants course [Link] Perl is a very widely used programming language indeed, but it's name isn't well know outside the programming community as it's an open source language that lack the marketing "hype" - it's just a superb technical tool in a very wide variety of applications. It's name - PERL - stands for the "Practical Extraction and Reporting language" which is a pretty good sound-bite to tell you what it does.

A new release of Perl - Perl 6 - has been undergoing development for a considerable time. Our course covers Perl 5, and will continue to do so while it is dominant, but also includes a short look ahead to Perl 6 so that new code developers will be able to take advantage of it once it's available to them.

Perl Fundamentals

Introduction (module P201) What is Perl?. Perl is a computer language. What does Perl cost?. What is Perl used for?. What computer do I need to run Perl?. Is Perl loaded onto my computer?. Perl platforms. Perl on Unix (including Solaris and Mac OS X). Perl on Linux. Perl on Windows. Perl versions. Older Versions. How do I find what version I have?. Macintosh OS X. Linux. Solaris. Windows 98 / Windows 2000 / Windows NT / Windows XP. Macintosh OS 9 and earlier. Loading Perl (Windows XP). Examples of Perl in use. Calculator. Screen locator and counter. A talker. A changing web page.

Hello Perl World (module P102) Let's study a first program. How do we enter our program?. How do we run our program?. What were the components of that program file we typed in?. How do I do more than one thing in a program?. What if I make a mistake?. What if I want to print on several lines?. Summary.

Variables and Operations (module P103) Reading from the user. More about variables. What are the rules for choosing a name for a variable?. How much information can a variable contain?. Do I have to tell Perl about a variable before I use it?. Can I reuse a variable?. Can I copy a variable?. The new line problem. How can I get rid of that new line character?. How do I do calculations?. Arithmetic operations. Several operations at the same time?. Can I change the order things are done within a statement?. Remember, comment it well. Better clear than concise!. Summary.

Perl Fundamentals (module P202) First Perl program. Comments and documentation. Comments. Documentation. Executable statements. Print statement. Variables and assignments. Calculations. Summary. Reading data. File handles. Read from operator. Strings v numbers. String operators. Summary.

More about the Perl Environment (module P203) Integrating your program with your computer. Unix and Linux systems (including Solaris and OS X). Executable path. File Permissions. Telling the calling shell this is Perl. Windows 98, 2000, NT and XP systems. Associating your file with Perl. Running your program. MS-DOS users. Macintosh. Classic OS 9 and earlier. The compiler and the interpreter. Compiled languages. Interpreted languages. The middle way -- Perl. Some questions on compilers and interpreters. Can I run just the compiler to check if I've got the syntax (language) of my program correct?. What if I make a mistake in my program?. Debugging tools. Summary.

Conditionals and Loops (module P204) The "if" statement. Structure. Conditions. Blocks. The "while" statement. Shorthand operators. Add and assign. Increment. Multiple assign. String expansion. Assignments within other statements. More on the increment operator. Ways of writing numbers. Summary.

Analysing a Programming Task (module Q904) A small job. Learning about the job. Working it out. Writing. Testing. Error Handling. As a job gets larger. Summary.

Initial String Handling (module P205) String handling functions. String handling operators. Double-quoted strings. Single-quoted strings. qq and q strings. Here documents. Comparing strings exactly. Comparing strings to regular expressions. Summary.

More Loops and Conditionals (module P206) The variety that is Perl. More conditional statements. If -- single statement rather than a block. Unless -- an inverted if statement. Conditional operators. The ? : operator. More loop statements. The until loop. Single statement while and until loops. The for loop. The do - while loop. Breaking a loop. Labels. The goto statement. Summary.

File Handling (module P207) File input and output. File Handles. The open function. Reading from a file handle. Writing to a file handle. Closing a file. Other things you can handle through the file interface. File testing. Formatted printing. Floating point formats. Formats for whole numbers (integers). Formats for variable text strings. Constant text. sprintf. Summary.

The Power of Perl

Lists (module P208) Basics. Creating a list. Referencing an element in a list. Changing a list. The length of a list. Context. Summary. Functions that operate on lists. Functions that let you manipulate the elements within a list. Functions that let you re-order a list (returning a new list). Function to return the length of a list. Operators that relate to lists. Operators than manipulate strings and lists. Iterating through a list. List slices. Anonymous lists. Summary.

Subroutines in Perl (module P209) What are subroutines and why?. The limitations of "single block code". First use of subroutines. Structured programming. Object oriented programming. Calling a subroutine. Passing values out of subroutines. Passing values in to subroutines. Writing your own subroutine. Passing parameters in. Returning values. Writing subroutines in a separate file. Scope. Global Scope. my variables. A test program:. packages. Calling objects. Writing a class - an introduction.

Topicalization and Special Variables (module P210) Regular variables in Perl. Special variables. Topicalization. Special information variables and the English module. Reading the command line in Perl. Special variables that provide controls. Output control variables. Output buffering. Input controls. Special variables provided by Perl operations. Error information. Regular expression match information. Other special variables you may come across. Command line options.

Hashes (module P211) Setting up a hash. Accessing a hash. Individual elements. The whole hash. Processing every element of a hash. Keys and values. Each. Ordering a hash (sorting). Sorting using your own subroutine for comparison. Operators cmp and <=>. A more complex sort selector routine. Sorting with a comparison block. Programming techniques. Non-unique keys. Looking for matching keys. Use hashes for stock numbers. Deleting elements, clearing out hashes. Initialising hashes. Special hashes. %ENV. Summary.

More on Character Strings (module P212) Summary to date. Extracting information from a match. $1, $2, etc. Assign to a list. $`, $& and $Õ. More about regular expressions. What else can I put in regular expressions?. More brackets. Match modifiers. Global v Greedy. Alternative delimiters. Some favourite regular expressions. To match an email address. To match a UK Postcode. To match an American Zip code. To match a date (UK Style). To match a time. To match a complete URL for a web page. To match a Visa number. To match a Mastercard number. To match a UK Phone number. To match a UK car registration plate. To match a UK national insurance number. To match a book's ISBN number. Substitutions. Substitute and execute. Regular expression efficiency. tr. Handling binary text. Summary.

Application of Perl

Perl on the Web (module P221) The HTML form. Inputs. URL encoding. Outputs. Headers. The reply page. All together!. The power of using Perl on the Web. A real example of Perl on the Web. Interfacing the Web to an SQL database. Summary.

More than Simple Lists and Hashes! (module P217) Multidimensional arrays. Multidimensional lists. Mixing the dimensions. Something more complex. Design first. Setting up the structure. Referencing the structure. Grouping in Perl. Interpreting a complex reference to a variable. Design MATTERS. Summary.

Handling Dates and Time (module P216) So far. File status operators. stat on a file. Via system commands. How Perl handles dates and times. Other date information available. Convertors. Convert from epoch seconds into "human readable" form:. Convert from human readable form to epoch seconds. Handling centuries. Elapsed time sleep. alarm. Summary.

Using SQL Databases from Perl (module P308) Flat databases. Relational databases through SQL - Setup. Checking that your relational database is available. Installing the database independent module (DBI). Install the Database Dependent drivers for MySQL. Using DBI to access a MySQL database. A further example. Other databases.

Looking ahead with Perl

Practical Example - Perl in use (module P772) The requirement. Introduction. Input and output. The plans. The detail. Plain Old Documentation (POD). Possible enhancements. On data validation. On data input and output. On extending the application. On the optimizing algorithm.

Libraries and Resources (module P219) Standard Perl modules. Pragmata. Standard modules. The CPAN. Installing from CPAN - an individual module. Installing from the CPAN - using the CPAN module. Installing modules via the Perl Package Manager. WhatÕs on the CPAN?. Utility programs. Documentation. Web resources. Newsgroups. Perl information in newsgroups. A note of caution. Forums. Chat. Books. Meeting users, getting local support and training. User Groups. List Servers. Well House Consultants.

Perl 6 Look Ahead (module P256) Objects. Operators. String handlers. Comparison operators. Vectorised operators. Data types. Bindings. Subroutine bindings. Conditionals and loops. Topicalization. Switch statements. for and loop. Exception handling. Try blocks. Rules and grammar. Modifiers. Elements with a rule. Capturing. Concluding rules and grammar. Under the bonnet. Conclusion.

A Quick Look Ahead (module P770) Fundamental and advanced topics. How do these further facilities talk to Perl?. Other facilities in the Perl language. File handling and system administration functions. Object Orientation. Writing distributable modules. More complex data structures. Tieing. Writing network clients and servers. Binary Termio, and low-level file controls. Data Munging. Other built-ins. Other facilities in Perl - further modules. Interfacing to databases. XML and XSLT. Graphics and Perl. Writing Web clients. Talking to Microsoft applications. Perl in other guises. Interfacing to the Web via cgi. Interfacing to the Web via mod-perl. Other Web interfaces. Perl embedded within third-party applications. And also. Huge Data. Maintainable code.

Graham Ellis - graham@wellho.net [email]  [about Graham] Melksham, Wiltshire , England. A taxi transfer can be arranged if you'll be arriving by air from United States. Private Courses can be arranged on site in your country.
Public courses run at Well House Manor - our own purpose fitted training centre and business hotel / conference centre in Melksham.
• Download Melksham Map - [pdf file (750k)] • Google Map - [Link]

1 student	2 students	3 students	For 4 or more students from the same company, please consider a private course.
With hotel room $2800.00 ($3290.00 inc VAT) or £1650.00 (£1938.75 inc VAT) Without room $2350.00 ($2761.25 inc VAT) or £1350.00 (£1586.25 inc VAT)	With hotel rooms $5500.00 ($6462.50 inc VAT) or £3200.00 (£3760.00 inc VAT) Without rooms $4600.00 ($5405.00 inc VAT) or £2600.00 (£3055.00 inc VAT)	With hotel rooms $8200.00 ($9635.00 inc VAT) or £4750.00 (£5581.25 inc VAT) Without rooms $6850.00 ($8048.75 inc VAT) or £3850.00 (£4523.75 inc VAT)
Notes: • Multiple discount applies to bookings for second and subsequent delegates on the same running of a course, and on same order. • Hotel rooms are available for arrival the night before the course starts, for departure after the end of the course on the last day.

For some applications, you'll learn all the Perl you need on this course. For other applications, you might want to go on to our advanced Perl courses - Using Perl on the Web or Perl for Larger Projects

Upon completion of your course, you'll have online access to the source code of all the examples from the course, and you'll have access to the "Opentalk" forum where you can raise questions. We also encourage you to email the tutor, and to visit us again to use our library as appropriate.

Certification? - [Link] Public (scheduled) courses -- http://www.wellho.net/course/ctc.html
For more information about our public courses in general, such as class size, course times, materials provided, special requests, accommodation list, finding our centre, etc.
Terms and Conditions -- http://www.wellho.net/net/terms.html
Covering topics such as delegate substitution, payment, cancellation policy and other matters.