Win32 Perl Programming: The Standard Extensions, Second Edition

Perl Modules and Extensions

Perl is a very rich language just by itself. It has networking functions, regular expressions, and string, array, and hash manipulation functions. Perl can shell out and run other applications, open files, create pipes, and the list goes on. One of the most ingenious aspects of Perl, however, is the capability to extend the language. Perl allows itself to be extended in two ways: modules and extensions.

Collectively, these modules and extensions constitute Perl’s libraries. Just as the C language has a series of libraries (stdlib, string, math, and so on), so does Perl. Such libraries are simply add-on functionality that is not built into Perl itself. Instead, they are separate pieces of code that can be added or ...