I received some notes from my agent over the past few weeks. Two of my books, JavaScript Step by Step (Microsoft Press), and Beginning Perl Web Development (Apress) are selling well. The JavaScript book has outsold any of my other books. Some of the other books that I wrote and co-wrote were done under Work-for-Hire so we don’t get to see the same sales reports on those.
The Perl book was is what prompted me to write today. I wrote the book back in 2005 and was asked yesterday if the content is still relevant; in other words, has the software been updated thus rendering the book obsolete? The answer is no. Beginning Perl Web Development is definitely still relevant. I’ll go through some of the sections of the book.
Part 1 looks at CGI development and database connections with Perl. These are still relevant and in wide use. Part 2 covers LWP and Net:: tools, including retrieving content with LWP::UserAgent. This is still relevant, I use these modules to scrape web pages with Perl even today! Part 3 looks at XML and RSS with Perl including consuming RSS feeds and creating them as well. Part 4 is devoted to mod_perl and Part 5 looks at templating with Perl using the Template Toolkit and Mason.
I was happy to hear about both books recently and even happier that they’re still relevant and provide value to their readers.
Purchase JavaScript Step by Step and Beginning Perl Web Development at Amazon or your preferred book retailer.
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