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Welcome to Mother of Perl, a free how-to devoted to all things Perl. xref: Automatic Cross Referencing Script 11.13.2008 Available in static JavaScript and dynamic (with a Perl back-end) flavors, the WebReference xref script is a traffic-building tool that enables you to automatically insert links into your Web pages whenever a key term is encountered on the page. By Dan Ragle. Simple Comments Meets OpenID 08.20.2008 Beginning with version .960, Simple Comments supports visitor logins using OpenID identifiers. In this article, I discuss some of the specific architectural and developmental considerations that went into the process of OpenID-enabling the Simple Comments system. By Dan Ragle. Simple Comments Release Notes: v.960 07.23.2008 The number one change in this release is support for OpenID. Other enhancements include: HTML Header/Footer Templates, Article Locking, Support for Unique Display Names, Visitor CAPTCHA Bypass, User E-mails in Comments and more. By Dan Ragle. Perl Pragma Primer 05.08.2008 Pragmas in Perl are specific instructions that we can embed in Perl code, depending on our needs and preferences, that allow our scripts to be compiled and behave differently than they would otherwise. In this article, we look at how pragmas work. By Dan Ragle. Simple Comments Release Notes: v.950 11.20.2007 In this release, new features include key enhancements that allow visitors to register on your site and provide basic profile information for display to other site visitors. By Dan Ragle. webps Release Notes: v.20 09.06.2007 This is a release bulletin for webps. In this version of webps, we look at new administrator options on the back end, and a healthy dose of drag and drop on the front end. By Dan Ragle. webps Release Notes: v.10 07.18.2007 This the first release of webps, a Web-based front-end to the familiar Linux/UNIX ps utility. With webps, administrators can pull up ps lists using only a Web browser from any Internet connected location. By Dan Ragle. Simple Comments Release Notes: v.930 05.02.2007 This version of Simple Comments adds several new features, including optional CAPTCHA authentication on comment submissions, RSS format comment feeds and the ability for administrators to reply to a comment from directly within the comment approval screen. By Dan Ragle. Getting and Giving Help: A Perl Documentation Primer 03.01.2007 From time to time, even the most experienced programmers get stuck, hence the need for effective help files. In this Perl primer, we look at the "Plain Old Documentation" (POD) included with the Perl distribution and embedded in practically all publically available Perl modules. By Dan Ragle. Simple Comments Release Notes: v.920 01.04.2007 The Simple Comments script is a Perl-based system that allows you to add a talkback facility to the static Web pages of your Apache-based site. In this release, Simple Comments now supports the ability to reply to a previously posted comment and more. By Dan Ragle. Simple Comments Release Notes: v.910 09.20.2006 This is a release bulletin for the Simple Comments script. It includes a few new features, including the implementation of site section support, direct support for administrator authentication, immediate publishing, date time formatting and more. It also squashes several bugs. By Dan Ragle. Simple Comments 07.12.2006 A common feature appearing on more and more Web sites is support for comment posting by users, which tends to appear at the bottom of a Web page or article. Our own Perl-based comment system is the focus of this article and you'll learn how to use this on static Web pages. By Dan Ragle. Introduction to Perl's Taint Mode 05.05.2006 When writing scripts that others will run, it's essential to design your scripts defensively. Fortunately, Perl provides a built-in mechanism (called Taint Mode) to help you become more aware of potential security problems in your scripts. By Dan Ragle. Perl Subroutine Primer 02.20.2006 This week we're going to examine the use of user-defined subroutines in Perl; blocks of code that can accept, operate on, and/or return variables and values that can be reused throughout your Perl script without needing to copy and paste it each time it's required. By Dan Ragle. Perl format Primer 12.09.2005 In this short tutorial, we examine the main core functions that can be used to create formatted reports with the Perl language: format, for the insertion of data elements into formatted report lines; and write, which outputs the formatted results to a file or STDOUT for examination. By Dan Ragle. Introduction to NTP 5.04.2005 As a Web developer, you might need to synchronize servers accurately, either locally, or at a distance. At first glance, it seems simple, but not when you consider computer clock times, different time zones, etc. Enter the Network Time Protocol, or NTP. Among other things, NTP allows machines to synchronize their clocks. By Dan Ragle. Perl Module Primer 4.18.2005 This article examines the basic building blocks and fundamental concepts that you need to know to begin writing and using your own modules. Towards the end, We'll touch — very briefly — on extended topics such as autoloading and object classes. By Dan Ragle. Weblog 1.72 4.27.2001 Weblog 1.72 fixes a couple minor bugs, filtering bad chars, and a palm pilot template. This update supersedes previous versions. VoiceXML Adventure Game 3.8.2001 Part II of our VoiceXML tutorial is here. It's time to learn the details of making a voice-enabled adventure game with Perl and VoiceXML. You can even try the game out by calling Tellme. Tellme More 2.27.2001 In Part I of our quickstart VoiceXML tutorial, you'll learn how to sign up as a Tellme.com developer and write your first interactive voice application. Weblog 1.71 1.19.2001 Give your site a voice. Weblog 1.71 adds VoiceXML and Avantgo support, and squashes all known bugs. Thanks for your feedback. This update supersedes previous versions, details on each channel to follow. Weblog 1.61 1.5.2001 Thanks to your feedback, Weblog 1.6 includes several bug fixes, simplified installation, better RSS 1.0 support, and better documentation. This tutorial walks through the new installation procedures and supersedes the previous Weblog tutorial. Weblog Unleashed 12.08.2000 Weblog is a Web-based tool that allows you to manage multiple RSS channels. A bulletproof update of Channel Manager, Weblog now features wireless support with WML and PALM feeds, plus a configurable installation script that automates the entire installation process, including Perl module installation. RSA Encryption in Perl 11.09.2000 Encrypting data is becoming more important in a world where everyone wants to snoop. Learn how to protect your data in an ironclad lockbox with Perl and the Crypt::RC4 module. Two-Way Telephone Interaction 10.27.2000 We continue our quest to voice-enable your Web site with the Modem::Vgetty Perl module. This time we add inbound call event handling and DTMF tone response to our evolving script. Telephone Messaging 10.12.2000 Reach out and touch someone with Perl. We show how to use the Modem::Vgetty module to place phone calls. AIM on Steroids with Perl 09.29.2000 What do you get when you put together Perl, AIM, Festival, and the Eliza chatterbot? An instant messenger on steroids! My co-workers at Whirlwind Interactive recently turned me on to Gaim, an AIM clone for Linux. I was excited to discover that there is good support for Perl in the client and the AIM protocol, so I hacked up three very cool apps. Let me know what you think. YAPC 2000: A Pictorial Review 09.14.2000 I've been wanting to do a report on my experience at YAPC 2000 for a while, so here it is. In short, it was a blast. I've also included all the pictures I took at the conference, so you can look inside what it's all about. This was YAPC's second year, but it was still as hot as the first. Perl Daemon Contest Results 08.31.2000 After a long Alaskan hiatus, Randal has submitted the Perl Daemon Contest results. There were 15 entries. The top 3 winners will each receive a copy of Mastering Algorithms with Perl thanks to O'Reilly. In addition the first place winner will receive $300. The second place winner will receive $200. And the winners are, drum roll please, ... here! Announcing: RSS 1.0 08.15.2000 The RSS interest group has released the proposed RSS 1.0 spec, an extensible improvement over previous versions of RSS. Like RSS 0.91, RSS 1.0 can easily be extended (add your own fields), but unlike version 0.91, you can share these extensions with others by using XML namespace modules via RDF. RSS 1.0 is backwardly compatible with version 0.90, and via the rss091 namespace module with 0.91. 081500 Tutorial 11: Simplified DocBK XML on the Web 03.17.2000 Simplified DocBK XML is a simplified form of the DocBook SGML format used extensively for technical documentation and articles. Using it also makes it easy to convert an article to multiple formats like HTML, RTF and Postscript. In this tutorial, we'll learn how to write articles in Simplified DocBk XML and convert them into HTML for the Web. Tutorial 10: Mac Daemons in Perl 02.04.2000 Once again someone has proven that it can be done on a Mac. Continuing with the Perl daemon series, guest writer Brian McNett cooks up a Mac daemon alternative with a little spice from Chris Nandor. Tutorial 9: Daemons in Perl 01.21.2000 Unix daemons are unseen creatures that lurk in the shadows of your computer, performing the bidding of the all-knowing root process. In this tutorial, we will learn to craft our own daemons in Perl. Moniker 0.2 01.07.2000 Moniker is a simple command-line Perl script that is used to monitor services like HTTP, POP, NNTP, SMTP, and IMAP on local or remote servers anywhere on the Internet. It is intended to be simple to install and use, but is not intended to be a full-featured replacement for more advanced monitoring tools. Version 0.2 adds the ability to use a CSV file to specify the servers, services to monitor as well as the email address to send a notification to. bbi_rss2html.pl 12.26.1999 Brian McNett has contributed a version of rss2html.pl that works as a BBEdit include file. According to Brian, "The format is somewhat similar to Server Side Includes in appearance, but the functionality it somewhat different, due to the way BBEdit uses AppleEvents to send data to MacPerl." Now Mac users can convert RSS to HTML on the fly! The quest for RSS solutions continues. RSS Channel Editor 11.10.1999 RSS Maker has been renamed to the RSS Channel Editor. It includes most of the RSS 0.91 channel elements. It also includes the ability to save the RSS to the Web server's file system instead of prompting one to download it via a Web browser. The tool is available is source form as well as on the Web. RSS Maker 10.25.1999 Our newest Web-based tool makes it easy to create and maintain Rich Site Summary (RSS) files. RSS is an XML format that many content providers are using to create content channels and distribute their news. Best of all, this tool is open source. Tutorial 8: RSS News Feeds with XML::RSS 09.21.1999 Learn how to add free news headlines to your Web site from any site that supports Netscape's Rich Site Summary (RSS) format: make your site stickier than a roach motel. Tutorial 7: URL redirects with CGI.pm 08.19.1999 Been wanting to track down where your users are wandering off to? Well, we can't attach homing beacons to their Web browsers, but we can track when a user leaves our Web site via an external link. In this edition of Mother of Perl, we'll learn how to log this subversive behavior with a simple Perl script without the user knowing it. Tutorial 6: Monitoring Internet services by name with Moniker 08.4.1999 In this tutorial, we will explore how to use Perl to monitor services like HTTP, POP, NNTP, SMTP, and IMAP on local or remote servers anywhere on the Internet. Since this script is a command-line utility, you can automatically monitor services via a cron job (on *nix) or with at (on NT). phpHoo: A strong competitor to PerlHoo 07.23.1999 It seems PerlHoo has another competitor. This time, a PHP version that stores data in MySQL rather than CSV files. But CDI, the author of phpHoo, went even further and made it searchable! Of course, this advancement will not go unchallenged. Tutorial 5: PerlHoo, Part III 07.09.1999 In Part III, we will add the capstone to the PerlHoo series by adding an administrative tool that will allow us to add, edit, and delete new and current entries in our PerlHoo Web directory. Tutorial 4: Yahasp: An ASP PerlHoo Alternative 06.17.1999 Laurence Gold has developed an ASP VBscript alternative that effectively duplicates all the functionality of PerlHoo. Is it a better alternative to PerlHoo? You decide. Tutorial 3: PerlHoo, Part II 04.27.1999 We continue the PerlHoo series by adding the ability for users to suggest new sites in PerlHoo. We will also discuss how and why a Web directory can make your Web site more valuable. Tutorial 2: PerlHoo, Part I 03.24.1999 In part one of the PerlHoo series, we will build a simple yet fully functional implementation of a Web directory in less than 100 lines of code using our operating system, comma delimited data files, a dash of ingenuity, and lots of duct tape. Tutorial 1: XML and Perl: Embedding XML in HTML 02.14.1999 XML is the standard that promises to free us from the shortcomings of HTML by allowing authors to create documents using their own descriptive markup. Despite the clear benefits of XML, it is still unclear how authors should mix XML and HTML. In this article we'll show you how to turn your HTML files into mini databases by embedding XML tags in your Web pages to describe the enclosed content.