3 perlcommunity - a brief overview of the Perl community
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
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.
17 =head2 Where to Find the Community
19 There is a central directory for the Perl community: L<https://perl.org>
20 maintained by the Perl Foundation (L<https://www.perlfoundation.org/>),
21 which tracks and provides services for a variety of other community sites.
25 Perl's sister language, Raku (formerly known as Perl 6), maintains its own
26 directory of community resources at L<https://raku.org/community/>.
28 =head2 Mailing Lists and Newsgroups
30 Perl runs on e-mail; there is no doubt about it. The Camel book was originally
31 written mostly over e-mail and today Perl's development is co-ordinated through
32 mailing lists. The largest repository of Perl mailing lists is located at
33 L<https://lists.perl.org>.
35 Most Perl-related projects set up mailing lists for both users and
36 contributors. If you don't see a certain project listed at
37 L<https://lists.perl.org>, check the particular website for that project.
38 Most mailing lists are archived at L<https://www.nntp.perl.org/>.
42 The Perl community has a rather large IRC presence. For starters, it has its
43 own IRC network, L<irc://irc.perl.org>. General (not help-oriented) chat can be
44 found at L<irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. Many other more specific chats are also
45 hosted on the network. Information about irc.perl.org is located on the
46 network's website: L<https://www.irc.perl.org>. For a more help-oriented #perl,
47 check out L<irc://irc.freenode.net/#perl>. Most Perl-related channels
48 will be kind enough to point you in the right direction if you ask nicely.
50 Any large IRC network (Dalnet, EFnet) is also likely to have a #perl channel,
51 with varying activity levels.
55 Perl websites come in a variety of forms, but they fit into two large
56 categories: forums and news websites. There are many Perl-related
57 websites, so only a few of the community's largest are mentioned here.
63 =item L<https://perl.com/>
65 Originally run by O'Reilly Media (the publisher of L<the Camel Book|perlbook>,
66 this site provides quality articles mostly about technical details of Perl.
68 =item L<http://blogs.perl.org/>
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.
73 =item L<http://perlsphere.net/>
75 Perlsphere is one of several aggregators of Perl-related blog feeds.
77 =item L<http://perlweekly.com/>
79 Perl Weekly is a weekly mailing list that keeps you up to date on conferences,
80 releases and notable blog posts.
88 =item L<https://www.perlmonks.org/>
90 PerlMonks is one of the largest Perl forums, and describes itself as "A place
91 for individuals to polish, improve, and showcase their Perl skills." and "A
92 community which allows everyone to grow and learn from each other."
94 =item L<https://stackoverflow.com/>
96 Stack Overflow is a free question-and-answer site for programmers. It's not
97 focussed solely on Perl, but it does have an active group of users who do
98 their best to help people with their Perl programming questions.
100 =item L<http://prepan.org/>
102 PrePAN is used as a place to discuss modules that you're considering uploading
103 to the CPAN. You can get feedback on their design before you upload.
109 Many cities around the world have local Perl Mongers chapters. A Perl Mongers
110 chapter is a local user group which typically holds regular in-person meetings,
111 both social and technical; helps organize local conferences, workshops, and
112 hackathons; and provides a mailing list or other continual contact method for
113 its members to keep in touch.
115 To find your local Perl Mongers (or PM as they're commonly abbreviated) group
116 check the international Perl Mongers directory at L<https://www.pm.org/>.
120 Perl workshops are, as the name might suggest, workshops where Perl is taught
121 in a variety of ways. At the workshops, subjects range from a beginner's
122 introduction (such as the Pittsburgh Perl Workshop's "Zero To Perl") to much
123 more advanced subjects.
125 There are several great resources for locating workshops: the
126 L<websites|"Websites"> mentioned above, the
127 L<calendar|"Calendar of Perl Events"> mentioned below, and the YAPC Europe
128 website, L<http://www.yapceurope.org/>, which is probably the best resource for
129 European Perl events.
133 Hackathons are a very different kind of gathering where Perl hackers gather to
134 do just that, hack nonstop for an extended (several day) period on a specific
135 project or projects. Information about hackathons can be located in the same
136 place as information about L<workshops|"Workshops"> as well as in
137 L<irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>.
139 If you have never been to a hackathon, here are a few basic things you need to
140 know before attending: have a working laptop and know how to use it; check out
141 the involved projects beforehand; have the necessary version control client;
142 and bring backup equipment (an extra LAN cable, additional power strips, etc.)
143 because someone will forget.
147 Perl had two major annual conventions: The Perl Conference (now part of OSCON),
148 put on by O'Reilly, and Yet Another Perl Conference or YAPC (pronounced
149 yap-see), which is localized into several regional YAPCs (North America,
150 Europe, Asia) in a stunning grassroots display by the Perl community.
152 In 2016, YAPC was rebranded as The Perl Conference again. It is now referred
153 to as The Perl and Raku Conference.
155 OSCON had been discontinued.
157 For more information about either conference, check out their respective web
162 =item * The Perl Conference
164 L<http://perlconference.us/>.
168 L<https://www.oreilly.com/conferences/>
172 An additional conference franchise with a large Perl portion was the
173 Open Source Developers Conference or OSDC. First held in Australia, it
174 also spread to Israel and France. More information can be found at:
175 L<http://www.osdc.org.il> for Israel, and L<http://www.osdc.fr/> for France.
177 =head2 Calendar of Perl Events
179 The Perl Review, L<http://www.theperlreview.com> maintains a website
180 and Google calendar for tracking
181 workshops, hackathons, Perl Mongers meetings, and other events. A view
182 of this calendar is available at L<https://www.perl.org/events.html>.
184 Not every event or Perl Mongers group is on that calendar, so don't lose
185 heart if you don't see yours posted. To have your event or group listed,
186 contact brian d foy (brian@theperlreview.com).
190 Edgar "Trizor" Bering <trizor@gmail.com>