Perl 5 is the latest version in an ongoing
evolution of the Perl language. The Perl 5 interpreter and language
were released a few years ago to replace and upgrade the existing
Perl 4 that had become the staple of many web developers.
By and large, as of 1998, most Internet
Service Providers and systems administrators around the web
have upgraded to Perl 5 so it should be available to you for
web programming. If it has not been loaded onto your local system,
you should direct your systems administrator to get the
interpreter from
http://www.perl.com/.
Perl 5 introduces a host of new features
that are allowing Perl developers to keep pace with the demands
of modern-day web applications development.
Specifically, Perl 5 introduces:
- A new data type: the reference
- A new localization tool: the my keyword
- Tools to allow object oriented programming in Perl
- An object oriented based library system focussed around "Modules"
- New shortcuts like "qw" and "=>"
Let’s take a look at each of this new functions:
- Note that Perl 4 is covered in
Introduction
to Web Programming. If you are not already familiar
with Perl 4, you should go and read through that tutorial first.
