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 Raku
26 Perl's sister language, Raku (formerly known as Perl 6), maintains its
28 own directory of community resources at <https://raku.org/community/>.
29 Mailing Lists and Newsgroups
31 Perl runs on e-mail; there is no doubt about it. The Camel book was
32 originally written mostly over e-mail and today Perl's development is
33 co-ordinated through mailing lists. The largest repository of Perl
34 mailing lists is located at <https://lists.perl.org>.
35 Most Perl-related projects set up mailing lists for both users and
37 contributors. If you don't see a certain project listed at
38 <https://lists.perl.org>, check the particular website for that
39 project. Most mailing lists are archived at
40 <https://www.nntp.perl.org/>.
41 IRC
43 The Perl community has a rather large IRC presence. For starters, it
44 has its own IRC network, <irc://irc.perl.org>. General (not help-
45 oriented) chat can be found at <irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. Many other
46 more specific chats are also hosted on the network. Information about
47 irc.perl.org is located on the network's website:
48 <https://www.irc.perl.org>. For a more help-oriented #perl, check out
49 <irc://chat.freenode.net/#perl>. Most Perl-related channels will be
50 kind enough to point you in the right direction if you ask nicely.
51 Any large IRC network (Dalnet, EFnet) is also likely to have a #perl
53 channel, with varying activity levels.
54 Websites
56 Perl websites come in a variety of forms, but they fit into two large
57 categories: forums and news websites. There are many Perl-related
58 websites, so only a few of the community's largest are mentioned here.
59 News sites
61 <https://perl.com/>
63 Originally run by O'Reilly Media (the publisher of the Camel Book,
64 this site provides quality articles mostly about technical details
65 of Perl.
66 <http://blogs.perl.org/>
68 Many members of the community have a Perl-related blog on this
69 site. If you'd like to join them, you can sign up for free.
70 <http://perlsphere.net/>
72 Perlsphere is one of several aggregators of Perl-related blog
73 feeds.
74 <http://perlweekly.com/>
76 Perl Weekly is a weekly mailing list that keeps you up to date on
77 conferences, releases and notable blog posts.
78 Forums
80 <https://www.perlmonks.org/>
82 PerlMonks is one of the largest Perl forums, and describes itself
83 as "A place for individuals to polish, improve, and showcase their
84 Perl skills." and "A community which allows everyone to grow and
85 learn from each other."
86 <https://stackoverflow.com/>
88 Stack Overflow is a free question-and-answer site for programmers.
89 It's not focussed solely on Perl, but it does have an active group
90 of users who do their best to help people with their Perl
91 programming questions.
92 <http://prepan.org/>
94 PrePAN is used as a place to discuss modules that you're
95 considering uploading to the CPAN. You can get feedback on their
96 design before you upload.
97 User Groups
99 Many cities around the world have local Perl Mongers chapters. A Perl
100 Mongers chapter is a local user group which typically holds regular in-
101 person meetings, both social and technical; helps organize local
102 conferences, workshops, and hackathons; and provides a mailing list or
103 other continual contact method for its members to keep in touch.
104 To find your local Perl Mongers (or PM as they're commonly abbreviated)
106 group check the international Perl Mongers directory at
107 <https://www.pm.org/>.
108 Workshops
110 Perl workshops are, as the name might suggest, workshops where Perl is
111 taught in a variety of ways. At the workshops, subjects range from a
112 beginner's introduction (such as the Pittsburgh Perl Workshop's "Zero
113 To Perl") to much more advanced subjects.
114 There are several great resources for locating workshops: the websites
116 mentioned above, the calendar mentioned below, and the YAPC Europe
117 website, <http://www.yapceurope.org/>, which is probably the best
118 resource for European Perl events.
119 Hackathons
121 Hackathons are a very different kind of gathering where Perl hackers
122 gather to do just that, hack nonstop for an extended (several day)
123 period on a specific project or projects. Information about hackathons
124 can be located in the same place as information about workshops as well
125 as in <irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>.
126 If you have never been to a hackathon, here are a few basic things you
128 need to know before attending: have a working laptop and know how to
129 use it; check out the involved projects beforehand; have the necessary
130 version control client; and bring backup equipment (an extra LAN cable,
131 additional power strips, etc.) because someone will forget.
132 Conventions
134 Perl had two major annual conventions: The Perl Conference (now part of
135 OSCON), put on by O'Reilly, and Yet Another Perl Conference or YAPC
136 (pronounced yap-see), which is localized into several regional YAPCs
137 (North America, Europe, Asia) in a stunning grassroots display by the
138 Perl community.
139 In 2016, YAPC was rebranded as The Perl Conference again. It is now
141 referred to as The Perl and Raku Conference.
142 OSCON had been discontinued.
144 For more information about either conference, check out their
146 respective web pages:
147 • The Perl Conference
149 <http://perlconference.us/>.
151 • OSCON
153 <https://www.oreilly.com/conferences/>
155 An additional conference franchise with a large Perl portion was the
157 Open Source Developers Conference or OSDC. First held in Australia, it
158 also spread to Israel and France. More information can be found at:
159 <http://www.osdc.org.il> for Israel, and <http://www.osdc.fr/> for
160 France.
161 Calendar of Perl Events
163 The Perl Review, <http://www.theperlreview.com> maintains a website and
164 Google calendar for tracking workshops, hackathons, Perl Mongers
165 meetings, and other events. A view of this calendar is available at
166 <https://www.perl.org/events.html>.
167 Not every event or Perl Mongers group is on that calendar, so don't
169 lose heart if you don't see yours posted. To have your event or group
170 listed, contact brian d foy (brian@theperlreview.com).
171
173 Edgar "Trizor" Bering <trizor@gmail.com>
174perl v5.34.0 2021-10-18 PERLCOMMUNITY(1)