| 1 | =head1 NAME |
| 2 | |
| 3 | perlcommunity - a brief overview of the Perl community |
| 4 | |
| 5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
| 6 | |
| 7 | This document aims to provide an overview of the vast perl community, which is |
| 8 | far too large and diverse to provide a detailed listing. If any specific niche |
| 9 | has been forgotten, it is not meant as an insult but an omission for the sake |
| 10 | of brevity. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | The Perl community is as diverse as Perl, and there is a large amount of |
| 13 | evidence that the Perl users apply TMTOWTDI to all endeavors, not just |
| 14 | programming. From websites, to IRC, to mailing lists, there is more than one |
| 15 | way to get involved in the community. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | =head2 Where to Find the Community |
| 18 | |
| 19 | There is a central directory for the Perl community: L<http://perl.org> |
| 20 | maintained by the Perl Foundation (L<http://www.perlfoundation.org/>), |
| 21 | which tracks and provides services for a variety of other community sites. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | =head2 Mailing Lists and Newsgroups |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Perl runs on e-mail; there is no doubt about it. The Camel book was originally |
| 26 | written mostly over e-mail and today Perl's development is co-ordinated through |
| 27 | mailing lists. The largest repository of Perl mailing lists is located at |
| 28 | L<http://lists.perl.org>. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | Most Perl-related projects set up mailing lists for both users and |
| 31 | contributors. If you don't see a certain project listed at |
| 32 | L<http://lists.perl.org>, check the particular website for that project. |
| 33 | Most mailing lists are archived at L<http://nntp.perl.org/>. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | There are also plenty of Perl related newsgroups located under |
| 36 | C<comp.lang.perl.*>. |
| 37 | |
| 38 | =head2 IRC |
| 39 | |
| 40 | The Perl community has a rather large IRC presence. For starters, it has its |
| 41 | own IRC network, L<irc://irc.perl.org>. General (not help-oriented) chat can be |
| 42 | found at L<irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. Many other more specific chats are also |
| 43 | hosted on the network. Information about irc.perl.org is located on the |
| 44 | network's website: L<http://www.irc.perl.org>. For a more help-oriented #perl, |
| 45 | check out L<irc://irc.freenode.net/#perl>. Perl 6 development also has a |
| 46 | presence in L<irc://irc.freenode.net/#perl6>. Most Perl-related channels will |
| 47 | be kind enough to point you in the right direction if you ask nicely. |
| 48 | |
| 49 | Any large IRC network (Dalnet, EFnet) is also likely to have a #perl channel, |
| 50 | with varying activity levels. |
| 51 | |
| 52 | =head2 Websites |
| 53 | |
| 54 | Perl websites come in a variety of forms, but they fit into two large |
| 55 | categories: forums and news websites. There are many Perl-related |
| 56 | websites, so only a few of the community's largest are mentioned here. |
| 57 | |
| 58 | =head3 News sites |
| 59 | |
| 60 | =over 4 |
| 61 | |
| 62 | =item L<http://perl.com/> |
| 63 | |
| 64 | Run by O'Reilly Media (the publisher of L<the Camel Book|perlbook>, among other |
| 65 | Perl-related literature), perl.com provides current Perl news, articles, and |
| 66 | resources for Perl developers as well as a directory of other useful websites. |
| 67 | |
| 68 | =item L<http://blogs.perl.org/> |
| 69 | |
| 70 | Many members of the community have a Perl-related blog on this site. If |
| 71 | you'd like to join them, you can sign up for free. |
| 72 | |
| 73 | =item L<http://use.perl.org/> |
| 74 | |
| 75 | use Perl; used to provide a slashdot-style news/blog website covering all |
| 76 | things Perl, from minutes of the meetings of the Perl 6 Design team to |
| 77 | conference announcements with (ir)relevant discussion. It no longer accepts |
| 78 | updates, but you can still use the site to read old entries and comments. |
| 79 | |
| 80 | =back |
| 81 | |
| 82 | =head3 Forums |
| 83 | |
| 84 | =over 4 |
| 85 | |
| 86 | =item L<http://www.perlmonks.org/> |
| 87 | |
| 88 | PerlMonks is one of the largest Perl forums, and describes itself as "A place |
| 89 | for individuals to polish, improve, and showcase their Perl skills." and "A |
| 90 | community which allows everyone to grow and learn from each other." |
| 91 | |
| 92 | =item L<http://stackoverflow.com/> |
| 93 | |
| 94 | Stack Overflow is a free question-and-answer site for programmers. It's not |
| 95 | focussed solely on Perl, but it does have an active group of users who do |
| 96 | their best to help people with their Perl programming questions. |
| 97 | |
| 98 | =back |
| 99 | |
| 100 | =head2 User Groups |
| 101 | |
| 102 | Many cities around the world have local Perl Mongers chapters. A Perl Mongers |
| 103 | chapter is a local user group which typically holds regular in-person meetings, |
| 104 | both social and technical; helps organize local conferences, workshops, and |
| 105 | hackathons; and provides a mailing list or other continual contact method for |
| 106 | its members to keep in touch. |
| 107 | |
| 108 | To find your local Perl Mongers (or PM as they're commonly abbreviated) group |
| 109 | check the international Perl Mongers directory at L<http://www.pm.org/>. |
| 110 | |
| 111 | =head2 Workshops |
| 112 | |
| 113 | Perl workshops are, as the name might suggest, workshops where Perl is taught |
| 114 | in a variety of ways. At the workshops, subjects range from a beginner's |
| 115 | introduction (such as the Pittsburgh Perl Workshop's "Zero To Perl") to much |
| 116 | more advanced subjects. |
| 117 | |
| 118 | There are several great resources for locating workshops: the |
| 119 | L<websites|"Websites"> mentioned above, the |
| 120 | L<calendar|"Calendar of Perl Events"> mentioned below, and the YAPC Europe |
| 121 | website, L<http://www.yapceurope.org/>, which is probably the best resource for |
| 122 | European Perl events. |
| 123 | |
| 124 | =head2 Hackathons |
| 125 | |
| 126 | Hackathons are a very different kind of gathering where Perl hackers gather to |
| 127 | do just that, hack nonstop for an extended (several day) period on a specific |
| 128 | project or projects. Information about hackathons can be located in the same |
| 129 | place as information about L<workshops|"Workshops"> as well as in |
| 130 | L<irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. |
| 131 | |
| 132 | If you have never been to a hackathon, here are a few basic things you need to |
| 133 | know before attending: have a working laptop and know how to use it; check out |
| 134 | the involved projects beforehand; have the necessary version control client; |
| 135 | and bring backup equipment (an extra LAN cable, additional power strips, etc.) |
| 136 | because someone will forget. |
| 137 | |
| 138 | =head2 Conventions |
| 139 | |
| 140 | Perl has two major annual conventions: The Perl Conference (now part of OSCON), |
| 141 | put on by O'Reilly, and Yet Another Perl Conference or YAPC (pronounced |
| 142 | yap-see), which is localized into several regional YAPCs (North America, |
| 143 | Europe, Asia) in a stunning grassroots display by the Perl community. For more |
| 144 | information about either conference, check out their respective web pages: |
| 145 | OSCON L<http://conferences.oreillynet.com/>; YAPC L<http://www.yapc.org>. |
| 146 | |
| 147 | A relatively new conference franchise with a large Perl portion is the |
| 148 | Open Source Developers Conference or OSDC. First held in Australia it has |
| 149 | recently also spread to Israel and France. More information can be found at: |
| 150 | L<http://www.osdc.com.au/> for Australia, L<http://www.osdc.org.il> |
| 151 | for Israel, and L<http://www.osdc.fr/> for France. |
| 152 | |
| 153 | =head2 Calendar of Perl Events |
| 154 | |
| 155 | The Perl Review, L<http://www.theperlreview.com> maintains a website |
| 156 | and Google calendar |
| 157 | (L<http://www.theperlreview.com/community_calendar>) for tracking |
| 158 | workshops, hackathons, Perl Mongers meetings, and other events. Views |
| 159 | of this calendar are at L<http://www.perl.org/events.html> and |
| 160 | L<http://www.yapc.org>. |
| 161 | |
| 162 | Not every event or Perl Mongers group is on that calendar, so don't lose |
| 163 | heart if you don't see yours posted. To have your event or group listed, |
| 164 | contact brian d foy (brian@theperlreview.com). |
| 165 | |
| 166 | =head1 AUTHOR |
| 167 | |
| 168 | Edgar "Trizor" Bering <trizor@gmail.com> |
| 169 | |
| 170 | =cut |