Definition
Practical Extraction and Report Language, commonly known as Perl, is a programming language developed in the late 1980s. It’s a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted scripting language designed for text processing. Perl is widely renowned for its flexibility and power, primarily used for system administration, web development, network programming, and more.
Phonetic
The phonetics for “Practical Extraction and Report Language” (also known as PERL) would be:Practical: /ˈpraktɪkəl/Extraction: /ɪkˈstrækʃən/and: /ænd/Report: /rɪˈpɔːrt/Language: /ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/
Key Takeaways
Three Main Takeaways About Practical Extraction and Report Language
- Versatility and Text Processing: PERL (Practical Extraction and Report Language) is extremely versatile and is best known for its text manipulation capabilities, making it a great language for working with text files.
- Scripting Capabilities: As a scripting language, PERL is used to write CGI scripts for web servers. This capability helps in developing dynamic web pages and web applications.
- Cross-platform Compatibility: PERL is a cross-platform language. It is compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X platforms which makes it a preferred language for platform-independent coding.
Importance
Practical Extraction and Report Language, widely known as Perl, is a crucial term in technology due to its versatile functionality in the programming world. Perl is a high-level, dynamic and interpreted language that supports both procedural and object-oriented programming.
It is critical because it offers effortless manipulation of text data, making it particularly valuable for tasks like system administration, web development, network programming, and graphical programming.
Moreover, with its broad range of third-party modules available for performing a variety of tasks, Perl has been extensively used in the field of bioinformatics. The wide applications and the flexibility of Perl underscore the importance of understanding this tech term.
Explanation
Practical Extraction and Report Language, also known as Perl, is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. The core purpose of Perl is to make the complex and difficult jobs easier. Perl’s text manipulation capabilities make it an incredibly powerful tool for systems administration, web development, network programming, GUI development, and more.
What started off as a tool to process text files has grown into a robust and versatile language used by both programmers and system administrators, enabling them to perform a wide range of tasks with efficiency and ease.Perl was especially designed for processing text.
Due to this, its primary function often revolves around string manipulation. Perl provides a large number of tools for quite complicated manipulations with these strings, to make it easy to manage databases. Perl’s text-handling capabilities can be used for generating email reports, where its ability to process large amounts of data is a big advantage. Web developers use Perl to write CGI scripts, parse logs and data files, automate system tasks, and more, making it a lasting presence in the field of programming for its practicality and power.
Examples
The Practical Extraction and Report Language (PERL) is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, scripting, dynamic programming language that was originally developed for the manipulation of text.
Here are three real-world examples of its use:
1. Data Extraction: With its strong text processing abilities, Perl is often used to extract data from various types of files. For example, a company might have large log files from which specific useful information has to be extracted. Perl can be used to create scripts that will automatically scout through those files and extract the needed information.
2. Web Development: Perl can be used to build web applications. For instance, a famous application called Bugzilla, which is a server software designed to help manage the bug-tracking needs of teams of software developers, is developed primarily in Perl.
3. Bioinformatics: Perl has been used extensively in bioinformatics and computational biology. It allows researchers to manipulate biological data, such as gene sequences or protein structures, more easily. An example of this is the BioPerl toolkit, a collection of Perl modules specifically tailored to compute tasks in fields such as genomics and proteomics.
Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ)
Q1: What is Practical Extraction and Report Language?
A1: The Practical Extraction and Report Language, also known as PERL, is a general-purpose, high-level, interpreted, dynamic programming language that has been developed for text processing.
Q2: Who developed PERL and when?
A2: PERL was developed by Larry Wall in 1987.
Q3: What are the main uses of PERL?
A3: PERL is commonly used in CGI scripting, network programming, system administration, and text processing.
Q4: Is PERL easy to learn?
A4: The difficulty in learning PERL is subjective and depends on the person’s previous coding experience. However, many perceive it as being easier than languages like C++ and Java.
Q5: How is PERL different from Python or other programming languages?
A5: Some differences include PERL’s extensive use for system administration in Unix environments and its strong text processing abilities. PERL can handle encrypted web data and it supports Unicode. Python, on the other hand, is often praised for its simplicity and readability.
Q6: Is PERL still relevant in today’s technology world?
A6: Yes, PERL is still relevant especially in the Unix environment and for older systems that need maintenance. Despite new languages emerging, PERL maintains a strong presence in the software and web development world.
Q7: Where can I learn PERL?
A7: There are multiple resources online to learn PERL, like Perl.org, learn.perl.org, and various coding platforms like Codecademy and Udemy.
Q8: How is PERL used in Web Development?
A8: PERL is often used in web development for tasks like automating web pages and form submissions, processing encoded data, handling cookies and managing databases.
Related Tech Terms
- Scripting Language
- Dynamic Programming Language
- Text Processing
- Web Development
- System Administration
