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://irc.libera.chat/#perl> (webchat
50 <https://web.libera.chat/#perl>). Most Perl-related channels will be
51 kind enough to point you in the right direction if you ask nicely.
52 Any large IRC network (Dalnet, EFnet) is also likely to have a #perl
54 channel, with varying activity levels.
55 Websites
57 Perl websites come in a variety of forms, but they fit into two large
58 categories: forums and news websites. There are many Perl-related
59 websites, so only a few of the community's largest are mentioned here.
60 News sites
62 <https://perl.com/>
64 Originally run by O'Reilly Media (the publisher of the Camel Book,
65 this site provides quality articles mostly about technical details
66 of Perl.
67 <http://blogs.perl.org/>
69 Many members of the community have a Perl-related blog on this
70 site. If you'd like to join them, you can sign up for free.
71 <https://perl.theplanetarium.org/>
73 Planet Perl is one of several aggregators of Perl-related blog
74 feeds.
75 <https://perlweekly.com/>
77 Perl Weekly is a weekly mailing list that keeps you up to date on
78 conferences, releases and notable blog posts.
79 Forums
81 <https://www.perlmonks.org/>
83 PerlMonks is one of the largest Perl forums, and describes itself
84 as "A place for individuals to polish, improve, and showcase their
85 Perl skills." and "A community which allows everyone to grow and
86 learn from each other."
87 <https://stackoverflow.com/>
89 Stack Overflow is a free question-and-answer site for programmers.
90 It's not focussed solely on Perl, but it does have an active group
91 of users who do their best to help people with their Perl
92 programming questions.
93 <http://prepan.org/>
95 PrePAN is used as a place to discuss modules that you're
96 considering uploading to the CPAN. You can get feedback on their
97 design before you upload.
98 User Groups
100 Many cities around the world have local Perl Mongers chapters. A Perl
101 Mongers chapter is a local user group which typically holds regular in-
102 person meetings, both social and technical; helps organize local
103 conferences, workshops, and hackathons; and provides a mailing list or
104 other continual contact method for its members to keep in touch.
105 To find your local Perl Mongers (or PM as they're commonly abbreviated)
107 group check the international Perl Mongers directory at
108 <https://www.pm.org/>.
109 Workshops
111 Perl workshops are, as the name might suggest, workshops where Perl is
112 taught in a variety of ways. At the workshops, subjects range from a
113 beginner's introduction (such as the Pittsburgh Perl Workshop's "Zero
114 To Perl") to much more advanced subjects.
115 There are several great resources for locating workshops: the websites
117 mentioned above, the calendar mentioned below, and the YAPC Europe
118 website, <http://www.yapceurope.org/>, which is probably the best
119 resource for European Perl events.
120 Hackathons
122 Hackathons are a very different kind of gathering where Perl hackers
123 gather to do just that, hack nonstop for an extended (several day)
124 period on a specific project or projects. Information about hackathons
125 can be located in the same place as information about workshops as well
126 as in <irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>.
127 If you have never been to a hackathon, here are a few basic things you
129 need to know before attending: have a working laptop and know how to
130 use it; check out the involved projects beforehand; have the necessary
131 version control client; and bring backup equipment (an extra LAN cable,
132 additional power strips, etc.) because someone will forget.
133 Conventions
135 Perl had two major annual conventions: The Perl Conference (now part of
136 OSCON), put on by O'Reilly, and Yet Another Perl Conference or YAPC
137 (pronounced yap-see), which is localized into several regional YAPCs
138 (North America, Europe, Asia) in a stunning grassroots display by the
139 Perl community.
140 In 2016, YAPC was rebranded as The Perl Conference again. It is now
142 referred to as The Perl and Raku Conference.
143 OSCON had been discontinued.
145 For more information about either conference, check out their
147 respective web pages:
148 • The Perl Conference
150 <http://perlconference.us/>.
152 • OSCON
154 <https://www.oreilly.com/conferences/>
156 An additional conference franchise with a large Perl portion was the
158 Open Source Developers Conference or OSDC. First held in Australia, it
159 also spread to Israel and France. More information can be found at:
160 <http://www.osdc.org.il> for Israel, and <http://www.osdc.fr/> for
161 France.
162 Calendar of Perl Events
164 The Perl Review, <http://www.theperlreview.com> maintains a website and
165 Google calendar for tracking workshops, hackathons, Perl Mongers
166 meetings, and other events. A view of this calendar is available at
167 <https://www.perl.org/events.html>.
168 Not every event or Perl Mongers group is on that calendar, so don't
170 lose heart if you don't see yours posted. To have your event or group
171 listed, contact brian d foy (brian@theperlreview.com).
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174 Edgar "Trizor" Bering <trizor@gmail.com>
175perl v5.36.0 2022-08-30 PERLCOMMUNITY(1)