What is Perl programming language?
Perl is a powerful and adaptable scripting programming language. Perl programming language is a dynamic and high level programming language which is also known as the 'duct tape of the internet'.
The backronym of perl programming language is "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language". Perl is an open source and platform independent programming language and pearl is licensed under its Artistic license or GNU General Public Licence.
Perl programming language is a multi purpose or general purpose programming language which means that it can be used in developing different types of programs and applications like web development, GUI development and many more. Perl programming language supports the features of both procedural as well as object oriented programming approach. Perl programming language supports all concepts like class, inheritance, abstraction and encapsulation and polymorphism, etc.
As Perl is a high level programming language so to convert it into machine readable language interpreters are required that is why it is an interpreted programming language. The concept of developing perl programming language is taken from many other programming languages like C, auk, sed and Bourne shell, etc. and also the syntax of Perl programming language is taken from the syntax of these programming languages. Perl programming language can be easily embedded with other systems like database server and web server, etc.
History of Perl programming language
There are various interesting facts related to the history of Perl programming language. So, let's discuss them in detail. Perl programming language was originally developed as scripting language to make report processing easy in 1987. American programmer and linguist Larry Wall designed and developed Perl programming language. Larry Wall is known as the father of perl programming language.
He decided to name the programming language "Perl" because he thought it was a memorable and short name. The first version of Perl programming language i.e. version 1.0 was officially released in December 8, 1987 and the latest version of Perl is version 5.24 which was released in May 19, 2016.
Features of Perl programming language
There are various features of Perl programming language which makes it one of the popular programming language. So let's discuss in detail about the main features of Perl programming language.
1. Easy to learn
Perl programming language easy to use and easy to learn programming language. The concept of developing perl programming languages taken from other programming languages and the syntax of perl programming language are also similar to other programming languages like awk, sh, sed, C, etc. so it is easy to learn and understand perl programming language.
2. Object oriented programming
Perl programming language also supports the features of object oriented programming. It follows all the concepts of object oriented programming approach like class, inheritance, abstraction, polymorphism, and encapsulation, etc. Features of object oriented programming makes maintenance and development easy and fast.
3. Procedural programming language
Perl programming language also supports the feature of procedural programming style. In Procedural programming there are specified steps for each programs to solve a particular problem.
4. An open source
Perl programming language is an open source programming language which is licensed under Artistic license or GNU General Public Licence. You can easily download Perl programming language from its official website for free. You can modify it according to your requirements and the terms of GNU General Public Licence.
5. Platform independent
Perl programming language was originally designed for Unix operating system but now you can easily use perl programming language in any platform that is why it is a cross platform or platform independent programming language.
6. Extendable programming language
All programming languages extendable programming language as it provides thousands of third party modules on CPAN for free. And for standard library, these modules provide various powerful extensions.
7. Interpreted programming language
Perl programming language is a high level programming language which needs an interpreter to convert scripts written in perl into machine readable language that is why perl is an interpreted programming language.
Some additional features of perl programming language
• Perl is a powerful and adaptable scripting programming language.
• Perl is a high quality programming language which is used for mission critical projects.
• Perl programming language can be easily embedded with different system like database and web servers.
• Perl is developed with the combined features of other programming languages like C, sed, sh, awk, etc.
• Perl programming language all supports the third-party database is like MySQL, Postgres, Sybase, Oracle, etc.
• Programmers can also use perl programming language with different markup languages like HTML, XML, etc.
Why learn Perl programming language or what are the advantages of perl programming language.
You must be thinking that why should you learn Perl programming language or what are the advantages of learning Perl programming language. So let's discuss in detail about the advantages of learning Perl programming language.
• The concept of perl programming language are similar to other programming language like C, awk, sh, sed, etc.
• It is easier to learn Perl programming language if you already learnt C and C++ programming language.
• The Syntax of Perl programming language are taken from other programming languages like sed, sh, C, awk, etc.
• Perl is a portable programming language and it is also platform independent programming language.
• Perl programming language is an open source programming language which is licensed under its Artistic license or GNU General Public Licence.
• Perl programming language can be easily embedded with other systems like database and web servers.
• Perl programming language supports the features of both procedural as well as object oriented programming approach.
• As Perl programming language is similar to other programming languages it is is easy to learn and understand perl programming language.
Applications of Perl programming language
The main applications of Perl programming language are as follows
• Text Manipulation
Perl programming languages originally designed and developed for text manipulation. Perl programming language provides many powerful and easy-to-use ways to manipulate text in comparison to other programming languages that's why it is one of the most used programming language for Text Manipulation.
• Log Management
Perl programming language is used by the programmers in log management platforms. And aggregating and interpreting log programmers can also write their own Perl scripts.
• Software testing
Perl programming language also provides best testing solutions to test software continuously and automatically. And one of these testing solution provided by perl programming language is TAP::Harness i.e. Test Anything Protocol. It is a robust and easy to use testing solution.
Conclusion
Above we have discussed about Perl programming language. Through this article you have learnt about what is Perl programming language, its features, history, applications and why should we learn Perl programming language. Perl is a powerful and adaptable scripting programming language which supports features of both procedural and object oriented programming style.
You can easily learn Perl programming language after learning C and C++ programming language. Beginners can easily use Perl programming language as the syntax of perl programming language is similar to many other programming languages like C, sed, sh, awk, etc. I hope this information is useful for you all