programming. From websites, to IRC, to mailing lists, there is more than one
way to get involved in the community.
-=head2 Where to find the community
+=head2 Where to Find the Community
There is a central directory for the Perl community: L<http://perl.org>
maintained by the Perl Foundation (L<http://www.perlfoundation.org/>),
which tracks and provides services for a variety of other community sites.
-=head2 Mailing lists and Newsgroups
+=head2 Mailing Lists and Newsgroups
-Perl runs on e-mail, there is no doubt about it. The Camel book was originally
+Perl runs on e-mail; there is no doubt about it. The Camel book was originally
written mostly over e-mail and today Perl's development is co-ordinated through
mailing lists. The largest repository of Perl mailing lists is located at
L<http://lists.perl.org>.
L<http://lists.perl.org>, check the particular website for that project.
Most mailing lists are archived at L<http://nntp.perl.org/>.
-There are also plenty of Perl related newsgroups located under
-C<comp.lang.perl.*>.
-
=head2 IRC
The Perl community has a rather large IRC presence. For starters, it has its
own IRC network, L<irc://irc.perl.org>. General (not help-oriented) chat can be
found at L<irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. Many other more specific chats are also
hosted on the network. Information about irc.perl.org is located on the
-network's website: L<http://www.irc.perl.org>. For a more help oriented #perl,
+network's website: L<http://www.irc.perl.org>. For a more help-oriented #perl,
check out L<irc://irc.freenode.net/#perl>. Perl 6 development also has a
presence in L<irc://irc.freenode.net/#perl6>. Most Perl-related channels will
be kind enough to point you in the right direction if you ask nicely.
=head2 Websites
Perl websites come in a variety of forms, but they fit into two large
-categories: forums and news websites. There are many Perl related
+categories: forums and news websites. There are many Perl-related
websites, so only a few of the community's largest are mentioned here.
=head3 News sites
=item L<http://perl.com/>
-Run by O'Reilly Media (The publisher of L<the Camel Book|perlbook> among other
-Perl-related literature), perl.com provides current Perl news, articles, and
-resources for Perl developers as well as a directory of other useful websites.
+Originally run by O'Reilly Media (the publisher of L<the Camel Book|perlbook>,
+this site provides quality articles mostly about technical details of Perl.
+
+=item L<http://blogs.perl.org/>
+
+Many members of the community have a Perl-related blog on this site. If
+you'd like to join them, you can sign up for free.
+
+=item L<http://perlsphere.net/>
+
+Perlsphere is one of several aggregators of Perl-related blog feeds.
+
+=item L<http://perlweekly.com/>
+
+Perl Weekly is a weekly mailing list that keeps you up to date on conferences,
+releases and notable blog posts.
=item L<http://use.perl.org/>
-use Perl; provides a slashdot-style Perl news website covering all things Perl,
-from minutes of the meetings of the Perl 6 Design team to conference
-announcements with (ir)relevant discussion.
+use Perl; used to provide a slashdot-style news/blog website covering all
+things Perl, from minutes of the meetings of the Perl 6 Design team to
+conference announcements with (ir)relevant discussion. It no longer accepts
+updates, but you can still use the site to read old entries and comments.
=back
for individuals to polish, improve, and showcase their Perl skills." and "A
community which allows everyone to grow and learn from each other."
+=item L<http://stackoverflow.com/>
+
+Stack Overflow is a free question-and-answer site for programmers. It's not
+focussed solely on Perl, but it does have an active group of users who do
+their best to help people with their Perl programming questions.
+
+=item L<http://prepan.org/>
+
+PrePAN is used as a place to discuss modules that you're considering uploading
+to the CPAN. You can get feedback on their design before you upload.
+
=back
=head2 User Groups
-Many cities around the world have local PerlMongers chapters. A PerlMongers
+Many cities around the world have local Perl Mongers chapters. A Perl Mongers
chapter is a local user group which typically holds regular in-person meetings,
both social and technical; helps organize local conferences, workshops, and
hackathons; and provides a mailing list or other continual contact method for
its members to keep in touch.
-To find your local PerlMongers (or PM as they're commonly abbreviated) group
-check the international PerlMongers directory at L<http://www.pm.org/>.
+To find your local Perl Mongers (or PM as they're commonly abbreviated) group
+check the international Perl Mongers directory at L<http://www.pm.org/>.
=head2 Workshops
If you have never been to a hackathon, here are a few basic things you need to
know before attending: have a working laptop and know how to use it; check out
-the involved projects before hand; have the necessary version control client;
+the involved projects beforehand; have the necessary version control client;
and bring backup equipment (an extra LAN cable, additional power strips, etc.)
because someone will forget.
information about either conference, check out their respective web pages:
OSCON L<http://conferences.oreillynet.com/>; YAPC L<http://www.yapc.org>.
-A relatively new conference franchize with a large Perl portion is the
+A relatively new conference franchise with a large Perl portion is the
Open Source Developers Conference or OSDC. First held in Australia it has
-recently also spread to Israel. More information can be found at:
-L<http://www.osdc.com.au/> for Australia, and L<http://www.osdc.org.il>
-for Israel.
+recently also spread to Israel and France. More information can be found at:
+L<http://www.osdc.com.au/> for Australia, L<http://www.osdc.org.il>
+for Israel, and L<http://www.osdc.fr/> for France.
=head2 Calendar of Perl Events
-The Perl Foundation maintains a website and Google calendar for tracking
-Workshops, Hackathons, Perl Mongers meetings, and the larger conventions
-mentioned above. The web page is located at
-L<http://www.perl.org/events.html>; the Google calendar is named
-I<Perl Events>. Disclaimer: not every Perl Mongers group is on that calendar,
-so don't lose heart if you don't see yours posted. Read the section above
-on L<"User Groups"> to find yours.
+The Perl Review, L<http://www.theperlreview.com> maintains a website
+and Google calendar
+(L<http://www.theperlreview.com/community_calendar>) for tracking
+workshops, hackathons, Perl Mongers meetings, and other events. Views
+of this calendar are at L<http://www.perl.org/events.html> and
+L<http://www.yapc.org>.
+
+Not every event or Perl Mongers group is on that calendar, so don't lose
+heart if you don't see yours posted. To have your event or group listed,
+contact brian d foy (brian@theperlreview.com).
=head1 AUTHOR