Higher-Order Perl
by Mark Jason Dominus · first published 2005
81% recommend19% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Shows how to apply functional programming ideas in Perl, treating it as close to Lisp: closures, higher-order functions, and parsing techniques. Suits Perl programmers with some experience; free online.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
This eagerly awaited book by one of the best-known Perl developers summarizes years of innovative practice Most Perl programmers were originally trained as C and Unix programmers, so the Perl programs that they write bear a strong resemblance to C programs. However, Perl incorporates many features that have their roots in other languages such as Lisp. These advanced features are not well understood and are rarely used by most Perl programmers, but they are very powerful. They can automate tasks in everyday programming that are difficult to solve in any other way. One of the most powerful of th
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> Would you mind listing a few of these? Sure: I already mentioned Mark Jason Dominus: "Higher-Order Perl" as it is a great introduction of functional programming and goes into all the gory details of how to implement lazy evaluation on top of closures. Damian Conway: "Object Oriented Perl" Comes to my…
on “Why Lisp macros are cool, a Perl perspective (2005)” ↗…we need some sort of text that covers functional techniques for the average programmer in scripting languages. SICP is dated and doesn't really match what modern languages can do. Mark-Jason Dominus' "Higher-Order Perl" is fantastic, but unfortunately specific to a language that's most programmers are not choosing in 2011. There was an attempt at a JavaScript port. Maybe someone should take that up again.
on “What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?” ↗…at back breaking deadlines, delivered stuff when others said it was impossible.But I don't remember math theorems. And am not too much into text books. Unless those books are like OnLisp(Paul Graham), Higher Order Perl(Mark Jason Dominus)... Kind of books. Umm. This is exactly what Google is looking for. Read Steve Yegge's post on what is typically asked in interviews: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/03/get-that-job-at-goog...…
on “What It’s Really Like to Work at Google” ↗…at back breaking deadlines, delivered stuff when others said it was impossible.But I don't remember math theorems. And am not too much into text books. Unless those books are like OnLisp(Paul Graham), Higher Order Perl(Mark Jason Dominus)... Kind of books. People like me can't get hired at Google!
on “What It’s Really Like to Work at Google” ↗…the difference between a one-line regexp/fork-to-shell/reverese combo type thing that perl is so great at That's just the very start, the very beginning of what Perl is good at. Read this book called "Higher Order Perl" by Mark Jason Dominus. You will see why 60000 line Python program actually becomes a 3000 line Perl program. >>most of the code becomes your actual business logic, and logic code I feel ends up being…
on “Oh My Glob” ↗…were things I could only explain in a very hand-wavy sort of way or that I'd forgotten. Just an amazing book. I re-read it every so often. I just got the 2nd edition and look forward to reading it soon. Higher Order Perl by Mark Jason Dominus. Even though I'd mostly moved on from Perl when I read this, this book really helped me better understand C.S. concepts that I should have learned better getting my degree. This…
on “Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?” ↗…regular programming aspect being discussed at length it becomes a little boring. Also I can't co relate that with my practical experiences. I enjoyed functional programming thanks to Mark Jason Dominus's "Higher Order Perl". Which taught me all functional programming stuff in the most pragmatic way out. Now that is what I look for, material that teaches me all this great stuff in the framework of my real work. Then it…
on “Clojure 2011 Year in Review” ↗…built(http://search.cpan.org/search?query=Moose&mode=all) Outside Lisp, Perl is probably the most flexible and most extensible language that exist. The entire CPAN is a standing proof of that. Have you read Mark Jason Dominus's Higher order Perl, Have you read chromatic's Modern Perl? When you talk of elegance and power? You call Perl a mess of a hundred text processing utilities. Can you show me one language that does regular expressions as…
on “Your favourite programming language is not good enough” ↗For those who don't know about the author of this post. His name is Mark Jason Dominus, the author of one the most awesome programming book that one can ever read. Higher Order Perl, is available for free download. If you read it you will see some amazing insights into programming techniques most people would have never heard of encountered in MegaCorp jobs. You will also grow a…
on “The shittiest project I ever worked on” ↗One of my favorite Perl books, albeit a bit lesser-known is "Higher Order Perl" by Mark Jason Dominus.
on “Perl is 26 Today” ↗Also see Higher-Order Javascript by Sean M. Burke which is a "JavaScriptish companion" to Mark-Jason Dominus's Higher-Order Perl book - http://interglacial.com/hoj/
on “Speaking JavaScript” ↗Have you seen Higher Order Perl by Mark Jason Dominus?
on “Project Python – Free Interactive Book That Introduces Python Programming and CS” ↗For a more gentle start for those less familiar with functional programming (like myself) I can recommend "Higher Order Perl" by Mark Jason Dominus (also available for free online). The book discusses functional programming techniques in Perl. It has some really practical examples, which make some of the advantages of functional…
on “Erik Meijer’s suggestions for further reading in functional programming” ↗…expressions make text processing a breeze. In addition, Higher order parsing is very easy in Perl too, Regular expressions are first class objects. For more information on this you can read Mark Jason Dominus's Higher order Perl. Which is a free book. Now coming to Perl's merits as general purpose scripting language. You have your usual language tool kit with data structures(usual numbers, strings), arrays, hashes. Flow control,…
on “Learn Perl in about 2 hours 30 minutes” ↗…Python are both excellent languages, so you find a range of problems that can be solved in both languages well. But try solving problems that Perl was specifically designed to solve, Pick up the book Higher Order Perl by Mark Jason Dominus(Its Free) and see for yourself how Perl helps you solve a certain kind of problems. I'm sure its the same case with Python too! Its good for academia, as its easy psuedocode. Problems…
on “What is Modern Perl” ↗