Perl Debugger Pocket Reference

Most Perl programmers know about the Perl debugger--the nifty little built-in utility that you can use to fully debug any programs that you write. Inside the interactive debugger environment, you're prompted for commands that let you examine your source code, set breakpoints, dump out function call stacks, change values of variables, and much more. It's so convenient that some programmers run it just to test out Perl constructs as they create a program. But although it's on their radar, not many Perl programmers take the time to master the debugger. That's where the Perl Debugger Pocket Reference comes in. This little book provides a quick and convenient path to mastery of the Perl debugger and its commands. Written by a core member of the Perl debugger development team, it's an ideal quick reference to debugger commands, as well as a detailed tutorial on how to get started. The Perl Debugger Pocket Reference provides complete coverage in a conveniently small package. Maybe you write code so clean you never have to look at it twice. Or perhaps you'd rather focus your energies on writing clean code, rather than learning about the debugger. But if you need to learn about the Perl debugger in a hurry, the Perl Debugger Pocket Reference is the book you'll want to have close by. And you can always keep a copy on hand to share with programmers who need it more than you do. O'Reilly's Pocket References have become a favorite among programmers everywhere. By providing a wealth of important details in a concise, well-organized format, these handy books deliver just what you need to complete the task at hand. When you've reached a sticking point in your work and need to get to a solution quickly, the new Perl Debugger Pocket Reference will get you back on the right track.

Richard Foley is an itinerant Perl programmer (since 1996), born in London, currently living near Munich, Bavaria. He fritters most of his time programming in Perl and Oracle, when he could be spending quality time with his family, reading or playing chess, walking or skiing in the nearby Alps. He has a technical illustration background, and has developed applications using Perl and Oracle on UNIX in the Aerospace, Internet and Banking industries. Responsible for maintaining the perlbug database, from 1997 to 2001, he has submitted patches to the Perl debugger, and written the perl debugger tutorial (perldebtut). He is the author of several modules on the CPAN including Oracle::Debug, an interface to the server-side Oracle PL/SQL engine, which was inspired by the Perl debugger. Co-organiser of YAPC::Europe::2002 in Munich, he is a also a member of the YAPC::Europe committee, the group responsible for organizing Perl conferences in Europe. High point was 24,000 feet on Broad Peak in the Karakorum Himalaya and low point 300 feet under the Yorkshire Dales in the North of England. Oh, and even the grey hairs are receding, when his daughters don't pull them out first!