1PERLCOMMUNITY(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLCOMMUNITY(1)
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6 perlcommunity - a brief overview of the Perl community
7
9 This document aims to provide an overview of the vast perl community,
10 which is far too large and diverse to provide a detailed listing. If
11 any specific niche has been forgotten, it is not meant as an insult but
12 an omission for the sake of brevity.
13 The Perl community is as diverse as Perl, and there is a large amount
15 of evidence that the Perl users apply TMTOWTDI to all endeavors, not
16 just programming. From websites, to IRC, to mailing lists, there is
17 more than one way to get involved in the community.
18 Where to Find the Community
20 There is a central directory for the Perl community: <http://perl.org>
21 maintained by the Perl Foundation (<http://www.perlfoundation.org/>),
22 which tracks and provides services for a variety of other community
23 sites.
24 Mailing Lists and Newsgroups
26 Perl runs on e-mail; there is no doubt about it. The Camel book was
27 originally written mostly over e-mail and today Perl's development is
28 co-ordinated through mailing lists. The largest repository of Perl
29 mailing lists is located at <http://lists.perl.org>.
30 Most Perl-related projects set up mailing lists for both users and
32 contributors. If you don't see a certain project listed at
33 <http://lists.perl.org>, check the particular website for that project.
34 Most mailing lists are archived at <http://nntp.perl.org/>.
35 IRC
37 The Perl community has a rather large IRC presence. For starters, it
38 has its own IRC network, <irc://irc.perl.org>. General (not help-
39 oriented) chat can be found at <irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. Many other
40 more specific chats are also hosted on the network. Information about
41 irc.perl.org is located on the network's website:
42 <http://www.irc.perl.org>. For a more help-oriented #perl, check out
43 <irc://irc.freenode.net/#perl>. Perl 6 development also has a presence
44 in <irc://irc.freenode.net/#perl6>. Most Perl-related channels will be
45 kind enough to point you in the right direction if you ask nicely.
46 Any large IRC network (Dalnet, EFnet) is also likely to have a #perl
48 channel, with varying activity levels.
49 Websites
51 Perl websites come in a variety of forms, but they fit into two large
52 categories: forums and news websites. There are many Perl-related
53 websites, so only a few of the community's largest are mentioned here.
54 News sites
56 <http://perl.com/>
58 Originally run by O'Reilly Media (the publisher of the Camel Book,
59 this site provides quality articles mostly about technical details
60 of Perl.
61 <http://blogs.perl.org/>
63 Many members of the community have a Perl-related blog on this
64 site. If you'd like to join them, you can sign up for free.
65 <http://perlsphere.net/>
67 Perlsphere is one of several aggregators of Perl-related blog
68 feeds.
69 <http://perlweekly.com/>
71 Perl Weekly is a weekly mailing list that keeps you up to date on
72 conferences, releases and notable blog posts.
73 <http://use.perl.org/>
75 use Perl; used to provide a slashdot-style news/blog website
76 covering all things Perl, from minutes of the meetings of the Perl
77 6 Design team to conference announcements with (ir)relevant
78 discussion. It no longer accepts updates, but you can still use the
79 site to read old entries and comments.
80 Forums
82 <http://www.perlmonks.org/>
84 PerlMonks is one of the largest Perl forums, and describes itself
85 as "A place for individuals to polish, improve, and showcase their
86 Perl skills." and "A community which allows everyone to grow and
87 learn from each other."
88 <http://stackoverflow.com/>
90 Stack Overflow is a free question-and-answer site for programmers.
91 It's not focussed solely on Perl, but it does have an active group
92 of users who do their best to help people with their Perl
93 programming questions.
94 <http://prepan.org/>
96 PrePAN is used as a place to discuss modules that you're
97 considering uploading to the CPAN. You can get feedback on their
98 design before you upload.
99 User Groups
101 Many cities around the world have local Perl Mongers chapters. A Perl
102 Mongers chapter is a local user group which typically holds regular in-
103 person meetings, both social and technical; helps organize local
104 conferences, workshops, and hackathons; and provides a mailing list or
105 other continual contact method for its members to keep in touch.
106 To find your local Perl Mongers (or PM as they're commonly abbreviated)
108 group check the international Perl Mongers directory at
109 <http://www.pm.org/>.
110 Workshops
112 Perl workshops are, as the name might suggest, workshops where Perl is
113 taught in a variety of ways. At the workshops, subjects range from a
114 beginner's introduction (such as the Pittsburgh Perl Workshop's "Zero
115 To Perl") to much more advanced subjects.
116 There are several great resources for locating workshops: the websites
118 mentioned above, the calendar mentioned below, and the YAPC Europe
119 website, <http://www.yapceurope.org/>, which is probably the best
120 resource for European Perl events.
121 Hackathons
123 Hackathons are a very different kind of gathering where Perl hackers
124 gather to do just that, hack nonstop for an extended (several day)
125 period on a specific project or projects. Information about hackathons
126 can be located in the same place as information about workshops as well
127 as in <irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>.
128 If you have never been to a hackathon, here are a few basic things you
130 need to know before attending: have a working laptop and know how to
131 use it; check out the involved projects beforehand; have the necessary
132 version control client; and bring backup equipment (an extra LAN cable,
133 additional power strips, etc.) because someone will forget.
134 Conventions
136 Perl has two major annual conventions: The Perl Conference (now part of
137 OSCON), put on by O'Reilly, and Yet Another Perl Conference or YAPC
138 (pronounced yap-see), which is localized into several regional YAPCs
139 (North America, Europe, Asia) in a stunning grassroots display by the
140 Perl community. For more information about either conference, check out
141 their respective web pages: OSCON <http://conferences.oreillynet.com/>;
142 YAPC <http://www.yapc.org>.
143 A relatively new conference franchise with a large Perl portion is the
145 Open Source Developers Conference or OSDC. First held in Australia it
146 has recently also spread to Israel and France. More information can be
147 found at: <http://www.osdc.com.au/> for Australia,
148 <http://www.osdc.org.il> for Israel, and <http://www.osdc.fr/> for
149 France.
150 Calendar of Perl Events
152 The Perl Review, <http://www.theperlreview.com> maintains a website and
153 Google calendar (<http://www.theperlreview.com/community_calendar>) for
154 tracking workshops, hackathons, Perl Mongers meetings, and other
155 events. Views of this calendar are at <http://www.perl.org/events.html>
156 and <http://www.yapc.org>.
157 Not every event or Perl Mongers group is on that calendar, so don't
159 lose heart if you don't see yours posted. To have your event or group
160 listed, contact brian d foy (brian@theperlreview.com).
161
163 Edgar "Trizor" Bering <trizor@gmail.com>
164perl v5.28.2 2018-11-01 PERLCOMMUNITY(1)