Network Programming with Perl

Lincoln D. Stein | Lincoln D. Stein

"Network programming"--the term had a distinct meaning once, but now it begs the question, "Is there another kind?" That's why Lincoln Stein's Network Programming with Perl is valuable. It shows how one of the world's top Perl authorities brings the language to bear on problems that require communication among computers, showing that you may not have to resort to Java as soon as you may have thought to meet a networking requirement. What's more, Stein doesn't assume you have a lot of Perl expertise. An intermediate-level familiarity with the language should enable you to understand the examples in the book and follow its classic code-and-commentary structure.

Stein presents full, working scripts, calling attention to particularly interesting lines and passages by repeating them in the text. If a program makes use of an unusual or previously undiscussed function (and lots of them do, because one of the author's missions is to introduce the contents of specialized libraries), its syntax and legal parameters will be documented and a concise statement of its behavior provided. The example programs are the best part of this book, though. As the problems get more complicated, it's fun to watch Stein solve them with efficient, attractive code. Unless you're a really experienced professional, you'll be able to study the examples in this book and learn a lot. --David Wall

Topics covered:

Perl function libraries and techniques that allow programs to interact with resources over a network
IO::Socket library
Net::FTP library
Net::Telnet library
Net::SMTP library
Chat problems
Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) issues
Markup-language parsing
Internet Protocol (IP) broadcasting and multicasting

1 Excellent
This book is excellent. This is one of very few books that the author really takes time, has a good plan to write a book and have good understanding of the subject.

I read many computer books that are just repetitive so it can make the books thick enough to look like a 'good book' (May be this is what US raaders like). I try my best to avoid those books. Those books do not say much in hundreds of pages.

But this book is not that kind of book. Every pages are worth to read. It is quite easy to follow. (I do know a bit of TCP/IP from reading other books before I read this book.) E.g. Stevens TCP/IP books. Unfortunately he died and he won't be able to update those great books.

Some authors are not professional, they just copy here and there. Then they put everything together. Those are terrible books to read. Those terrible books explain some simple concept again and again and take up hundreds of pages that can be done in half of volume. It is not just wasting the readers time (time is money) but also wasting the resource (trees)! Even most college textbooks are that way. Sometimes it is even worst since they know you won't haave much choices!

I seldom to give 5 stars. This book does deserve 5 stars.

You will enjoy this one if you like networking.

2 One of my favorite Perl books.
This is one of my favorite Perl books. It really serves what it says it will. It covers a great amount of Perl coding, but like the title says, goes into a lot of networking code, functions and so on. For Perl network programming, you really should have and use this book.

3 The nirvana
Just to say this is a big introduction (from starts to experts) to the network stuff through the magnific language that is perl.
Do you want to be a hacker? do you know enought of perl? Do you feel the only you need to be a hacker is some specific book that prepares to it? this is the one, BUY IT, at the end you will think this is one of the best books you have already read, i promise you.

(if you already know the net, it explains how to do the stuff in perl in an exciting way!)

4 Everything you need to know on Network Programming
This book has been in my wish list for pretty long time, and before I actually buy it decided to check it out of my school's library. Enjoyment started at the first chapters of the book that I read in the library's caffeteria. The book definitely covers all the aspects of the Network Progamming, not only with Perl, but in general as well.

In the first chapters of the book, Lincoln Stein makes good use of such OO modules as IO::File and IO::Socket to demostrate that difference between local file operations and remote network programming isn't that much different at all ( at least in Perl ).

Chapter 2 shows you several applications that are built on pipes. The best thing about the chapter was the signals part, where L. Stein shows examples, catching all sorts of signals that your progam receives and reacts accordingly. One example was reacting to pressing of CTRL+C sequence of keys to terminate the progam.

I would call Chapter 3 the heart of the book, since it goes over Berkeley Sockets, the base for Network progamming in most systems, no matter what progamming language you tend to prefer. It also explains thoroughly Sockets Addressings, Network naming conventions, protocols, services and a lot more. This chapter, together with the Chapter 4 alone are worth the whole price of the book, I believe. The chapter in the end goes over some common netwook analysis tools, such as "nslookup", "ping", so on and so forth.

Chapter 4 tells you all you need about TCP Protocol. Shows several examples as well. Goes over Adjusting Socket options, and their uses.

Chapter 5 is not anything newer supposing you've been following all the pervious chapters. Untill this chapter, L. Stein demonstrates the coding using much low level Socket API. here Lincoln starts using IO::Socket's Object Oriented Interface for its handy functionalities that enable writing Networking applications more relieving.

Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9 takes you through writing several commong network clients such as SMTP/mailing clients, Telnet, FTP clients. Also provides their complete source codes in case you just feel likek copying them. Chapter 9 gets into the most fun part: LWP and HTML/XML Parsing. Spends good 50 pages on those. Very exciting indeed!

The rest of the book (another half) is dedicated for writing Server applications, which I haven't read. I am sure the rest is as exciting as it's been up to this point. But no matter what, I am greatefull to the book for such an exciting and informative coverage of the topics. It's worth every penny that you spend on it. Buy it!

5 Perl Guru Has Another Home Run
Everything you wanted to know about Perl and socket applications. Lincoln is very good about explaining all concepts and providing lots of examples.

Lincoln is the author of the CGI.pm module. In addition, he wrote a book about CGI.pm that is the bible - a "must have" for anyone doing Perl CGI work.

Lincoln is a great guy. He wrote a Perl module for Napster. I could not get it running on my Win32 system (my linux box was at work). Within an hour of sending him an email, he sent me a new module for Win32 that worked great. Lincoln did not even know who I was.

6 Perfectly organized and clearly explained
First off, this book assumes an intermediate knowledge of perl. With that out of the way, this is the best programming book that I own. It is perfectly organized and the explanation/documentation are crystal clear- written line by line. Each chapter starts off with a very basic program and goes to an advanced program at the end of every chapter. If you are a UNIX sys admin or an aspiring one BUY THIS BOOK!

7 754 Pages Packed with Pefection
As an intermediate Perl programmer and a relative newcomer to network programming, I found Part 1, The Basics, to be pure gold. Dr. Stein's easy-to-follow writing style helped me to finally understand elusive concepts like fork, pipes and sockets.

As the book progresses, it gently builds into more and more advanced network topics. When I hit Part 4, Advanced Topics, I knew was in over my head. Yet, I now have a great reference for the future when I need/want to learn how to play with Broadcasting, UDP servers, etc.

One of the most valuable aspects of this book is his coverage of such a multitude of Perl modules, helping the reader to understand the each of modules' basic API in a straightforward manner.

This book is worth every cent.

8 Explanation of an often cryptic topic is very succesful
The first thing I want to point out for many readers who may not know this: Lincoln Stein is the author of CGI.pm -- the module that is resonsible for a vast majority of perl powered websites on the internet. Second, Lincoln has contributed enormous amounts of code to the perl community, and I originally bought this book as an insight to the code of his that I have and want to work with further.

Let me say that a lot of the book focuses on modules like Net::Telnet and Net::FTP. That isnt particularly useful to me because I have a firm understanding of them already.

The real meat of the book, if you ask me, is the discussion of fully multiplexed servers that are able to handle many simultaneous upstreams and downstreams, and do a vast array of things.

His code is very clear and concise, as well as commented and explained throughout the text. This is definitely something every perl programmer who writes network maintenance code should have.

9 Plug in, turn on, use Perl;
Lincoln Stein's latest book, "Network Programming with Perl", is a must-have text for anyone who is doing Perl network programming, or may be doing so in the near future. It reviews the basics of Perl I/O, explains the details of Perl's network functions, and covers the ever-evolving examples with line-by-line descriptions. From telnet, mail, ftp, and the Web, from Usenet News to custom services, this 650-page book covers any networking task currently known to man, and gives you the skills to manage the unknown tasks to come.

10 Terrific book: Don't buy it!
This is another terrific book about Perl, and is by my side as I learn and program Perl. Please don't buy it here, though; this company has broken its word to users by changing their privacy policy. They also have obtained ridiculous patents on obvious technology. Vote with your dollars on this good book.

11 Great coverage of network programming if you use perl
This book has excellent coverage of forking, multithreading, multiplexing, and non-blocking IO. Good coverage of this material is hard to find. Most books just concentrate on specific protocols such as POP, IMAP, FTP, SMTP, etc. This book also covers that material, but unlike other books, this one will actually start you off understanding sockets, pipes and signals rather than just showing you how to to use a bunch of libs. There is plenty of example source code here too.

12 Extraordinarily useful book
This book, replete with code, is one of the most useful resources I've come across. There aren't just code snippets here -- there are complete and useful programs, with explanations for each line of code. These line-by-line explanations not only make the code crystal clear, but it demonstrates how you can adapt the code to suit your specific need.

It discusses the esoteric topics such as threading, sockets, parsing binary email attachments, and more in a very understandable and open fashion. It also discusses existing modules and their "hidden" usefulness (Hint: Net::Telnet can be used to SSH). The author is to be commended on his ability to make these cryptic topics understood.

When I first flipped through Network Programming with Perl, I immediately found the solution to a problem I was having for the previous few days. A few more moments, I saw solutions to problems that associates were having. It's not very often a single book can do that without a thorough reading, but this one came through brilliantly.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone serious about taking their Perl expertise to the next level.