Writing Perl Modules for CPAN

Writing Perl Modules for CPAN offers Perl developers a comprehensive guide to using and contributing to the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN). Starting with a general overview of CPAN's history, network topology, and navigational mechanisms, the book quickly brings you up-to-speed regarding how to search out and install available modules. However, in the true open source spirit, author and experienced Perl developer Sam Tregar teaches you how to not only use, but also contribute to CPAN via an in-depth discussion of module creation, submission, and maintenance.

Beginning with a survey of basic design principles, Tregar takes care to discuss all issues relevant to developers wishing to create great Perl modules, including choosing a proper name, properly using Perl's POD (plain old documentation) feature, concepts surrounding functional and object-oriented API development, and much more. Tregar then proceeds with a complete dissertation of how modules should conform to CPAN module specifications, covering required distribution files and coding considerations, in addition to offering advice regarding proper module testing. After demonstrating how to create a module and prepare it for release, Tregar guides you through the CPAN module submission process and discusses module maintenance once the module has been contributed to the CPAN service.

Writing Perl Modules for CPAN is an indispensable guide for anyone wishing to make the most of the CPAN service.

Sam Tregar has been creating open source software for six years, four of which have been focused on coding in Perl. He is employed as a Perl programmer for About.com, where he spends his days designing and implementing content management systems. An active participant in the Perl development community, Sam is the author of a number of popular CPAN modules including HTML::Template, HTML::Pager, Inline::Guile, and Devel::Profiler. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from New York University. When not programming, Sam enjoys black-and-white photography, playing Go, reading, and maintaining the small private zoo curated by his wife.