Perl, or Practical Extraction and Report Language, is a powerful programming language available on Linux, Windows, and many other varieties of Unix. One of the strengths of Perl is in it's ease of use. Powerful programs to manipulate data can be developed with a small amount of code.
Perl is extensible. Thousands of modules have been written to add specific capabilities to Perl, such as the ability to create images or the ability to access a database. These pre-written modules reduce the amount of code which must be written in order to create powerful programs.
Perl can be found in many different applications. On the administration side, Perl scripts are often used to perform routine administration tasks, such as searching log files for errors. Users may encounter Perl scripts when accessing CGI scripts on websites.
One of Perl's biggest strengths is its ability to parse and transform data. Simple perl scripts can be used to reformat data, such as what may be required to reformat a "dump" from one software program into an import file for another program.
Perl is still widely used. Many Linux software programs are written in Perl, including the SpamAssassin e-mail scanner and the SARG proxy monitor.
Bradley, IL area businesses use Perl for a wide variety of tasks, including:
Web Scripting
Perl can be used to create interactive database driven websites. The wide variety of modules available on CPAN allow perl scripts to perform many advanced tasks.
Integration/Data Transformation
Perl scripts can be created to to allow for integration and data exchange between a wide variety of systems. The strong text manipulation capabilities available in Perl make it the optimal language for data transformation, such as reformatting an export file to be imported into another system.
Administration Tasks
Perl can be used to automate many important administration tasks, such as log parsing and monitoring system status.
NextPhase helps businesses with the following Perl related tasks: