Perl Resource Kit -- WIN32 Edition [With Contains Complete Perl for WIN32 5.005, Freeware]

The Perl Utilities Guide, and Programming with Perl Modules books are very good. However, the reference to the modules is simply the perldoc pages neatly bound. The software is very good, and ActiveState continues to support it, so it was a good investment.

This is an excellent resource once you reach intermediate status. The PRK covers subjects that no other book does, such as, using PerlScript in ASP. Other areas covered: Perl and COM, writing extensions for Perl, module reference for win32 Perl, and programming Perl modules. The free debugger alone is worth the cost of the package.

All the stuff you need in one box.OK ... the documentation is not so great, but the ease of installing Perl and all those Modules is well worth the price.The update feature is great ... especially if you have a higher than 28k connection.The module install is fabulous for the NON-UNIX GURU TYPE WHO SPENDS ALL DAY PLAYING WITH SEMANTICS. In other words it is for those who do not want or need to figure out how to install modules and make them work.I found the installation easy and straight forward.Yes, you could spend your lifetime searching and downloading modules and figuring out how to set them up ---- OR ---- you could buy this and get productive real quick.I give it a 4 star rating. Not bad for a first cut.

The $120 bucks is money well-spent, especially if you program with perl modules. The collection of tools has made my life much easier, and the examples have opened my mind to things that I had no idea that perl could do. A good deal of space is dedicated to CGI programming (including Lincoln Stein's invaluable cgi.pm module) and Active Server Pages (perlScript). If you are serious about web programming, you will find these resources very useful. There is also a good deal of information about perl/Tk. Don't buy this if you have never looked at perl before: It is not intended for beginners. However, I strongly recommend it for intermediate to advanced perl users.