The Win32 Edition of the Kit enlarges O'Reilly's Perl Resource Kit product line, which began in November, 1997 with the Perl Resource Kit-UNIX Edition.

The Perl Resource Kit-Win32 Edition brings together a host of significant, recently-released tools and software on CD-ROM and in books. It includes the complete distribution of Perl 5.005, which contains dozens of significant new features, such as the ability to run threads, if the operating system supports them. Version 5.005 also includes the integration of Win32 Perl with core Perl. This integration means that Perl users will have just one distribution of Perl, avoiding fragmentation and multiple builds for different platforms.

The Perl Resource Kit also includes a number of new Win32 Perl tools from ActiveState Tool Corp. Their graphical user interface (GUI) Perl Debugger enables easy location of bugs and swift verification of scripts. Visual Package Manager enhances installation of hundreds of Perl modules that run on Win32. PerlCOM enables access to Perl scripts as Component Object Modeling (COM) objects. PerlCtrl turns a Perl script into an ActiveX control, and pl2exe turns a Perl script into an executable.

"Beta users were enthusiastic as they discovered how quickly they solved common problems using PerlCOM, the hundreds of Perl modules, and the documentation that makes using them so much easier," said Dick Hardt, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of ActiveState. "The Perl Resource Kit is the ultimate in middleware for Win32 systems."

The Perl Resource Kit includes four books unavailable outside the Kit. Perl Module Reference, a two-volume compilation edited by David Futato, covers hundreds of Perl modules that run on Win32. Significant modules that are documented in the Reference include: database modules, by Tim Bunce and others, which make it significantly easier to interface with large bodies of data in common database formats like Oracle and Sybase; a CGI module by Lincoln Stein which allows programmers to make Web forms and parse their contents easily; the Perl TK module, by Nick Ing-Simmons and others, which enables GUI programming with Perl using the popular Tk program. Tk makes it possible to create complex interfaces with little effort in the Tcl environment. The Kit also includes Programming with Perl Modules, by Erik Olson and Perl Utilities Guide, by Brian Jepsen.

ABOUT O'REILLY & ASSOCIATES
O'Reilly & Associates is a privately-held corporation recognized worldwide for definitive books on open source software, the Internet, programming, Windows NT and UNIX. The company produces award-winning Internet software, innovative Web-based courses, and an annual Perl Conference, and has been a leader in legitimizing open source software. O'Reilly has two consumer imprints: Travelers' Tales and Patient-Centered Guides.

ABOUT ACTIVESTATE TOOL CORP.
Founded by Dick Hardt, ActiveState Tool Corp. is a privately-held corporation with investors that include O'Reilly & Associates. ActiveState leads the industry in providing professional tools for Perl developers, and introduced Perl 5 to the Win32 environment. ActiveState is committed to supporting both the open source and commercial development communities by contributing a wide range of free binary run-time products while providing professional tools for Perl developers.

Perl Resource Kit - Win32 Edition
By Dick Hardt, Erik Olson, David Futato & Brian Jepson
1st Edition August 1998
1,800+ pages, ISBN: 1-56592-409-6, $149.95.
Includes 4 books & CD-ROM