Perl for VMS
This page refers to our old VMS system Perl installation (back in 1995). As I am pleased
to announce the resurrection of OpenVMS, you can expect the current Perl version to be
implemented on our new server soon.
You can now use Perl 5.001 on VMS from your commandline. You can even link
Perl to your images (by PERLSHR/SHARE), but use also the proper
optionsfile (PUBLIC:PERLSHR_ATTR/OPT)!
To define all needed logicals and the symbol PERL itself, you should
invoke @PUBLIC:STARTUP_PERL before starting Perl. There is online-help
available through WWW - try the PERL -
Manpages!
perl - Practical Extraction and Report Language
Perl is an interpreted language optimized for scanning arbitrary
text files, extracting information from those text files, and printing
reports based on that information. It's also a good language for many
system management tasks. The language is intended to be practical
(easy to use, efficient, complete) rather than beautiful (tiny,
elegant, minimal). It combines (in the author's opinion, anyway) some
of the best features of C, sed , awk , and sh , so people
familiar with those languages should have little difficulty with it.
(Language historians will also note some vestiges of csh , Pascal,
and even BASIC-PLUS.) Expression syntax corresponds quite closely to C
expression syntax. Unlike most Unix utilities, Perl does not
arbitrarily limit the size of your data--if you've got the memory,
Perl can slurp in your whole file as a single string. Recursion is
of unlimited depth. And the hash tables used by associative arrays
grow as necessary to prevent degraded performance. Perl uses
sophisticated pattern matching techniques to scan large amounts of data
very quickly. Although optimized for scanning text, Perl can also
deal with binary data, and can make dbm files look like associative
arrays (where dbm is available). Setuid Perl scripts are safer than
C programs through a dataflow tracing mechanism which prevents many
stupid security holes. If you have a problem that would ordinarily use
sed or awk or sh , but it exceeds their capabilities or must
run a little faster, and you don't want to write the silly thing in C,
then Perl may be for you. There are also translators to turn your
sed and awk scripts into Perl scripts.
But wait, there's more...
Perl version 5 is nearly a complete rewrite, and provides
the following additional benefits:
-
* Many usability enhancements
-
It is now possible to write much more readable Perl code (even within
regular expressions). Formerly cryptic variable names can be replaced
by mnemonic identifiers. Error messages are more informative, and the
optional warnings will catch many of the mistakes a novice might make.
This cannot be stressed enough. Whenever you get mysterious behavior,
try the -w
switch!!! Whenever you don't get mysterious behavior,
try using -w
anyway.
-
* Simplified grammar
-
The new yacc grammar is one half the size of the old one. Many of the
arbitrary grammar rules have been regularized. The number of reserved
words has been cut by 2/3. Despite this, nearly all old Perl scripts
will continue to work unchanged.
-
* Lexical scoping
-
Perl variables may now be declared within a lexical scope, like "auto"
variables in C. Not only is this more efficient, but it contributes
to better privacy for "programming in the large".
-
* Arbitrarily nested data structures
-
Any scalar value, including any array element, may now contain a
reference to any other variable or subroutine. You can easily create
anonymous variables and subroutines. Perl manages your reference
counts for you.
-
* Modularity and reusability
-
The Perl library is now defined in terms of modules which can be easily
shared among various packages. A package may choose to import all or a
portion of a module's published interface. Pragmas (that is, compiler
directives) are defined and used by the same mechanism.
-
* Object-oriented programming
-
A package can function as a class. Dynamic multiple inheritance and
virtual methods are supported in a straightforward manner and with very
little new syntax. Filehandles may now be treated as objects.
-
* Embeddible and Extensible
-
Perl may now be embedded easily in your C or C++ application, and can
either call or be called by your routines through a documented
interface. The XS preprocessor is provided to make it easy to glue
your C or C++ routines into Perl. Dynamic loading of modules is
supported.
-
* POSIX compliant
-
A major new module is the POSIX module, which provides access to all
available POSIX routines and definitions, via object classes where
appropriate.
-
* Package constructors and destructors
-
The new BEGIN and END blocks provide means to capture control as
a package is being compiled, and after the program exits. As a
degenerate case they work just like awk's BEGIN and END when you
use the -p
or -n
switches.
-
* Multiple simultaneous DBM implementations
-
A Perl program may now access DBM, NDBM, SDBM, GDBM, and Berkeley DB
files from the same script simultaneously. In fact, the old dbmopen
interface has been generalized to allow any variable to be tied
to an object class which defines its access methods.
-
* Subroutine definitions may now be autoloaded
-
In fact, the AUTOLOAD mechanism also allows you to define any arbitrary
semantics for undefined subroutine calls. It's not just for autoloading.
-
* Regular expression enhancements
-
You can now specify non-greedy quantifiers. You can now do grouping
without creating a backreference. You can now write regular expressions
with embedded whitespace and comments for readability. A consistent
extensibility mechanism has been added that is upwardly compatible with
all old regular expressions.
Ok, that's definitely enough hype..
Back to me!
Page origins from: 13-Apr-1995
Last update: 13-Apr-2002
alexander.binder@medunigraz.at