title: Learning PERL the Hard Way: Perl Programming for Beginners
author: Allen B. Downey
description: This version is a draft I wrote several years ago. It is available for download from Green Tea Press.
zlib_text: **Mastering Perl**
  
   **brian d foy**
  
   **Preface**
  
  [ _Mastering Perl_](http://oreil.ly/mastering-perl-2e) is the third book in
  the series starting with [_Learning
  Perl_](http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920018452.do), which taught you the
  basics of Perl syntax, progressing to [_Intermediate
  Perl_](http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920012689.do), which taught you how
  to create reusable Perl software, and finally this book, which pulls
  everything together to show you how to bend Perl to your will. This isn’t a
  collection of clever tricks, but a way of thinking about Perl programming so
  you integrate the real-life problems of debugging, maintenance, configuration,
  and other tasks you’ll encounter as a working programmer. This book starts you
  on your path to becoming the person with the answers, and, failing that, the
  person who knows how to find the answers or discover the problem.
  
   **Becoming a Master**
  
  This book isn’t going to make you a Perl master; you have to do that for
  your