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: <https://perl.org>
21 maintained by the Perl Foundation (<https://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 <https://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 <https://lists.perl.org>, check the particular website for that
34 project. Most mailing lists are archived at
35 <https://www.nntp.perl.org/>.
36 IRC
38 The Perl community has a rather large IRC presence. For starters, it
39 has its own IRC network, <irc://irc.perl.org>. General (not help-
40 oriented) chat can be found at <irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. Many other
41 more specific chats are also hosted on the network. Information about
42 irc.perl.org is located on the network's website:
43 <https://www.irc.perl.org>. For a more help-oriented #perl, check out
44 <irc://irc.freenode.net/#perl>. Raku development also has a presence in
45 <irc://irc.freenode.net/#raku-dev>. Most Perl-related channels will be
46 kind enough to point you in the right direction if you ask nicely.
47 Any large IRC network (Dalnet, EFnet) is also likely to have a #perl
49 channel, with varying activity levels.
50 Websites
52 Perl websites come in a variety of forms, but they fit into two large
53 categories: forums and news websites. There are many Perl-related
54 websites, so only a few of the community's largest are mentioned here.
55 News sites
57 <https://perl.com/>
59 Originally run by O'Reilly Media (the publisher of the Camel Book,
60 this site provides quality articles mostly about technical details
61 of Perl.
62 <http://blogs.perl.org/>
64 Many members of the community have a Perl-related blog on this
65 site. If you'd like to join them, you can sign up for free.
66 <http://perlsphere.net/>
68 Perlsphere is one of several aggregators of Perl-related blog
69 feeds.
70 <http://perlweekly.com/>
72 Perl Weekly is a weekly mailing list that keeps you up to date on
73 conferences, releases and notable blog posts.
74 Forums
76 <https://www.perlmonks.org/>
78 PerlMonks is one of the largest Perl forums, and describes itself
79 as "A place for individuals to polish, improve, and showcase their
80 Perl skills." and "A community which allows everyone to grow and
81 learn from each other."
82 <https://stackoverflow.com/>
84 Stack Overflow is a free question-and-answer site for programmers.
85 It's not focussed solely on Perl, but it does have an active group
86 of users who do their best to help people with their Perl
87 programming questions.
88 <http://prepan.org/>
90 PrePAN is used as a place to discuss modules that you're
91 considering uploading to the CPAN. You can get feedback on their
92 design before you upload.
93 User Groups
95 Many cities around the world have local Perl Mongers chapters. A Perl
96 Mongers chapter is a local user group which typically holds regular in-
97 person meetings, both social and technical; helps organize local
98 conferences, workshops, and hackathons; and provides a mailing list or
99 other continual contact method for its members to keep in touch.
100 To find your local Perl Mongers (or PM as they're commonly abbreviated)
102 group check the international Perl Mongers directory at
103 <https://www.pm.org/>.
104 Workshops
106 Perl workshops are, as the name might suggest, workshops where Perl is
107 taught in a variety of ways. At the workshops, subjects range from a
108 beginner's introduction (such as the Pittsburgh Perl Workshop's "Zero
109 To Perl") to much more advanced subjects.
110 There are several great resources for locating workshops: the websites
112 mentioned above, the calendar mentioned below, and the YAPC Europe
113 website, <http://www.yapceurope.org/>, which is probably the best
114 resource for European Perl events.
115 Hackathons
117 Hackathons are a very different kind of gathering where Perl hackers
118 gather to do just that, hack nonstop for an extended (several day)
119 period on a specific project or projects. Information about hackathons
120 can be located in the same place as information about workshops as well
121 as in <irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>.
122 If you have never been to a hackathon, here are a few basic things you
124 need to know before attending: have a working laptop and know how to
125 use it; check out the involved projects beforehand; have the necessary
126 version control client; and bring backup equipment (an extra LAN cable,
127 additional power strips, etc.) because someone will forget.
128 Conventions
130 Perl had two major annual conventions: The Perl Conference (now part of
131 OSCON), put on by O'Reilly, and Yet Another Perl Conference or YAPC
132 (pronounced yap-see), which is localized into several regional YAPCs
133 (North America, Europe, Asia) in a stunning grassroots display by the
134 Perl community.
135 In 2016, YAPC was rebranded as The Perl Conference again. It is now
137 referred to as The Perl and Raku Conference.
138 OSCON had been discontinued.
140 For more information about either conference, check out their
142 respective web pages:
143 • The Perl Conference
145 <http://perlconference.us/>.
147 • OSCON
149 <https://www.oreilly.com/conferences/>
151 An additional conference franchise with a large Perl portion was the
153 Open Source Developers Conference or OSDC. First held in Australia, it
154 also spread to Israel and France. More information can be found at:
155 <http://www.osdc.org.il> for Israel, and <http://www.osdc.fr/> for
156 France.
157 Calendar of Perl Events
159 The Perl Review, <http://www.theperlreview.com> maintains a website and
160 Google calendar for tracking workshops, hackathons, Perl Mongers
161 meetings, and other events. A view of this calendar is available at
162 <https://www.perl.org/events.html>.
163 Not every event or Perl Mongers group is on that calendar, so don't
165 lose heart if you don't see yours posted. To have your event or group
166 listed, contact brian d foy (brian@theperlreview.com).
167
169 Edgar "Trizor" Bering <trizor@gmail.com>
170perl v5.32.1 2021-05-31 PERLCOMMUNITY(1)