How to get Perl

The current version of Perl is 4.036. Although version 5 is in alpha test right now, version 4 is the stable version. Version 4 can be found via the archie protocol at hundreds of ftp sites.

I have put the current version of Perl in the anonymous ftp account on my machine. The code can be found at:

jaameri.gsfc.nasa.gov:/pub/perl/perl-4.036.tar.gz

There are several useful things in that directory. They are:

• perl-mode.el An Emacs major mode for editing Perl code.
• perl.faq The list of Frequently-Asked Questions about Perl.
• refguide.ps PostScript format reference guide for perl 4.036.
• examples/ A directory of example Perl scripts

The directory of example scripts is a good place to start hacking with real Perl code. Even though I refer to these as ``example'' scripts, they are all real Perl scripts that I wrote to solve real problems.

I welcome comments, bug fixes, fan mail, et cetera about anything in the ftp directory or about Perl in general. I can be reached at patrick.m.ryan@gsfc.nasa.gov.