1. Chapter 1 Data References and Anonymous Storage

   1. Referring to Existing Variables

   2. Using References

   3. Nested Data Structures

   4. Querying a Reference

   5. Symbolic References

   6. A View of the Internals

   7. References in Other Languages

   8. Resources

2. Chapter 2 Implementing Complex Data Structures

   1. User-Defined Structures

   2. Example: Matrices

   3. Professors, Students, Courses

   4. Pass the Envelope

   5. Pretty-Printing

   6. Resources

3. Chapter 3 Typeglobs and Symbol Tables

   1. Perl Variables, Symbol Table, and Scoping

   2. Typeglobs

   3. Typeglobs and References

   4. Filehandles, Directory Handles, and Formats

4. Chapter 4 Subroutine References and Closures

   1. Subroutine References

   2. Using Subroutine References

   3. Closures

   4. Using Closures

   5. Comparisons to Other Languages

   6. Resources

5. Chapter 5 Eval

   1. The String Form: Expression Evaluation

   2. The Block Form: Exception Handling

   3. Watch Your Quotes

   4. Using Eval for Expression Evaluation

   5. Using Eval for Efficiency

   6. Using Eval for Time-Outs

   7. Eval in Other Languages

   8. Resources

6. Chapter 6 Modules

   1. Basic Package

   2. Packages and Files

   3. Package Initialization and Destruction

   4. Privacy

   5. Importing Symbols

   6. Nesting Packages

   7. Autoloading

   8. Accessing the Symbol Table

   9. Language Comparisons

7. Chapter 7 Object-Oriented Programming

   1. OO: An Introduction

   2. Objects in Perl

   3. UNIVERSAL

   4. Recap of Conventions

   5. Comparison with Other OO Languages

   6. Resources

8. Chapter 8 Object Orientation: The Next Few Steps

   1. Efficient Attribute Storage

   2. Delegation

   3. On Inheritance

   4. Resources

9. Chapter 9 Tie

   1. Tying Scalars

   2. Tying Arrays

   3. Tying Hashes

   4. Tying Filehandles

   5. Example: Monitoring Variables

   6. Comparisons with Other Languages

10. Chapter 10 Persistence

    1. Persistence Issues

    2. Streamed Data

    3. Record-Oriented Approach

    4. Relational Databases

    5. Resources

11. Chapter 11 Implementing Object Persistence

    1. Adaptor: An Introduction

    2. Design Notes

    3. Implementation

    4. Resources

12. Chapter 12 Networking with Sockets

    1. Networking Primer

    2. Socket API and IO::Socket

    3. Handling Multiple Clients

    4. Real-World Servers

    5. IO Objects and Filehandles

    6. Prebuilt Client Modules

    7. Resources

13. Chapter 13 Networking: Implementing RPC

    1. Msg: Messaging Toolkit

    2. Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)

    3. Resources

14. Chapter 14 User Interfaces with Tk

    1. Introduction to GUIs, Tk, and Perl/Tk

    2. Starting with Perl/Tk

    3. Widget Tour

    4. Geometry Management

    5. Timers

    6. Event Bindings

    7. Event Loops

    8. Resources

15. Chapter 15 GUI Example: Tetris

    1. Introduction to Tetris

    2. Design

    3. Implementation

16. Chapter 16 GUI Example: Man Page Viewer

    1. man and perlman

    2. Implementation

    3. Resources

17. Chapter 17 Template-DrivenCode Generation

    1. On Code Generation

    2. Jeeves Example

    3. Jeeves Overview

    4. Jeeves Implementation

    5. Sample Specification Parser

    6. Resources

18. Chapter 18 Extending Perl: A First Course

    1. Writing an Extension: Overview

    2. Example: Fractals with Perl

    3. SWIG Features

    4. XS Features

    5. Degrees of Freedom

    6. A Detour into Fractals

    7. Resources

19. Chapter 19 Embedding Perl:The Easy Way

    1. Why Embed?

    2. Embedding Overview

    3. Examples

    4. Adding Extensions

    5. Resources

20. Chapter 20 Perl Internals

    1. Reading the Source

    2. Architecture

    3. Perl Value Types

    4. Stacks and Messaging Protocol

    5. Meaty Extensions

    6. Easy Embedding API

    7. A Peek into the Future

    8. Resources

1. Appendix Tk Widget Reference

   1. Button

   2. Canvas

   3. Entry

   4. Listbox

   5. Menus

   6. Scrollbars and Scrolling

   7. Scale

   8. HList — Hierarchical List

2. Appendix Syntax Summary

   1. References

   2. Nested Data Structures

   3. Closures

   4. Modules

   5. Objects

   6. Dynamic Behavior

   7. Exception Handling

   8. Meta-Information

   9. Typeglobs

   10. Filehandles, Formats

3. Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal featured on the cover of Advanced Perl Programming is a black leopard. Most leopards are easily recognized by the rosette patterned spots on their coat. Black leopards, often called "black panthers," also have these spots, but they are difficult to see because of the darkness of the fur. Black leopards are born into the same litters as the more common yellowish leopards. They occur most frequently in the wet, forested areas of India and southeast Asia, where the dark color aids in camouflage and hunting.

Leopards are among the most widely distributed wild cats. Their range extends throughout most of Africa and India and into much of Asia, the Middle East, and the East Indies. Highly adaptable, leopards are able to hunt almost any animal, and can live in both very wet and arid conditions. Because they almost always share their range with bigger cats, such as lions or tigers, leopards are very cautious. After catching its prey, the leopard will carry it high up into a tree to devour it. The incredible strength of the leopard enables it to climb while carrying animals up to three times its own body weight. Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book, using a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. The cover layout was produced with Quark XPress 3.3 using the ITC Garamond font. Whenever possible, our books use RepKover™, a durable and flexible lay-flat binding. If the page count exceeds RepKover's limit, perfect binding is used.

The inside layout was designed by Nancy Priest and implemented in FrameMaker 5.0 by Mike Sierra. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. The illustrations that appear in the book were created in Macromedia Freehand 5.0 by Robert Romano. This colophon was written by Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary.