• NAME
• 1 - Administriva
• 1.1 - I'm not subscribed - how do I subscribe?
• 1.2 - How do I unsubscribe?
• 1.3 - There is too much traffic on this list. Is there a digest?
• 1.4 - Is there an archive on the web?
• 1.5 - How can I get this FAQ?
• 1.6 - I don't see something in the FAQ, how can I make a suggestion?
• 1.7 - Is there a supporting website for this list?
• 1.8 - Who owns this list? Who do I complain to?
• 1.9 - Who currently maintains the FAQ?
• 1.10 - Who will maintain peace and flow on the list?
• 1.11 - When was this FAQ last updated?
• 2 - Questions about the 'beginners-cgi' list.
• 2.1 - What is the list for?
• 2.2 - What is this list _not_ for?
• 2.3 - Are there any rules?
• 2.4 - What topics are allowed on this list?
• 2.5 - I want to help, what should I do?
• 2.6 - Is there anything I should keep in mind while answering?
• 2.7 - I don't want to post a question if it is in an FAQ. Where should I
• 2.8 Is this a high traffic list?
• 2.9 Other tips before posting to the list
• 2.10 Cross Posting
• 3 - Other Resources
• 3.1 - What other websites may be useful to a beginner ?
• 3.2 - What resources may be harmful to a beginner?
• 3.3 - What books would be good?
• 3.4 I use IRC, any helpful Perl channels out there?
• 4 - Think Before Posting!

NAME

beginners-faq - FAQ for the beginners-cgi mailing list

1 - Administriva

1.1 - I'm not subscribed - how do I subscribe?

Send mail to <beginners-cgi-subscribe@perl.org>

You can also specify your subscription email address by sending email to (assuming foo@bar.com is your email address):

<beginners-cgi-subscribe-foo=bar.com@perl.org>.

1.2 - How do I unsubscribe?

Now, why would you want to do that? Send mail to <beginners-cgi-unsubscribe@perl.org>, and wait for a response. Once you reply to the response, you'll be unsubscribed. If that doesn't work, find the email address which you are subscribed from and send an email like the following (let's assume your email is foo@bar.com):

<beginners-cgi-unsubscribe-foo=bar.com@perl.org>

1.3 - There is too much traffic on this list. Is there a digest?

Yes. To subscribe to the digest version of this list send an email to:

<beginners-cgi-digest-subscribe@perl.org>

To unsubscribe from the digest, send an email to:

<beginners-cgi-digest-unsubscribe@perl.org>

1.4 - Is there an archive on the web?

Yes, there is. It is located at:

http://archive.develooper.com/beginners-cgi%40perl.org/

1.5 - How can I get this FAQ?

This document will be emailed to the list once a month, and will be available online in the archives, and at http://learn.perl.org/faq/beginners-cgi.html

1.6 - I don't see something in the FAQ, how can I make a suggestion?

Send an email to <beginners-cgi-faq@perlguy.com> with your suggestion.

1.7 - Is there a supporting website for this list?

Yes, there is. It is located at:

http://learn.perl.org/

1.8 - Who owns this list? Who do I complain to?

Casey West owns the beginners-cgi list. You can contact him at casey@geeknest.com.

1.9 - Who currently maintains the FAQ?

Kevin Meltzer, who can be reached at the email address (for FAQ suggestions only) in question 1.6

1.10 - Who will maintain peace and flow on the list?

Casey West, Kevin Meltzer and Ask Bjoern Hansen currently carry large, yet padded, clue-sticks to maintain peace and order on the list. If you are privately emailed by one of these folks for flaming, being off-topic, etc... please listen to what they say. If you see a message sent to the list by one of these people saying that a thread is closed, do not continue to post to the list on that thread! If you do, you will not only meet face to face with a XQJ-37 nuclear powered pansexual roto-plooker, but you may also be taken off of the list. These people simply want to make sure the list stays topical, and above-all, useful to Perl/CGI beginners.

1.11 - When was this FAQ last updated?

Dec 13, 2001

2 - Questions about the 'beginners-cgi' list.

2.1 - What is the list for?

A list for beginning Perl programmers to ask questions in a friendly atmosphere. The topic of the list is, of course, CGI with Perl.

2.2 - What is this list _not_ for?

• SPAM
  
• Homework
  
• Solicitation
  
• Things that aren't Perl related
  
• Non Perl/CGI questions or issues
  
• Lemurs
  

2.3 - Are there any rules?

Yes. As with most communities, there are rules. Not many, and ones that shouldn't need to be mentioned, but they are.

• Be nice
  
• No flaming
  
• Have fun
  

2.4 - What topics are allowed on this list?

Basically, if it has to do with Perl/CGI , then it is allowed. If your question has nothing at all to do with Perl/CGI, post it to the beginners list.

2.5 - I want to help, what should I do?

Subscribe to the list! If you see a question which you can give an idiomatic and Good answer to, answer away! If you do not know the answer, wait for someone to answer, and learn a little.

2.6 - Is there anything I should keep in mind while answering?

We don't want to see 'RTFM'. That isn't very helpful. Instead, guide the beginner to the place in the FM they should R :)

2.7 - I don't want to post a question if it is in an FAQ. Where should I look first?

Look in the FAQ! Get acquainted with the 'perldoc' utility, and use it. It can save everyone time if you look in the Perl FAQs first, instead of having a list of people refer you to the Perl FAQs :) You can learn about 'perldoc' by typing:

perldoc perldoc

At your command prompt. You can also view documentation online at:

http://perldoc.perl.org and http://www.perl.com

2.8 Is this a high traffic list?

The traffic on this list is moderate. If you would rather not get many individual emails from this list, consider subscribing to the digest.

2.9 Other tips before posting to the list

• Check the FAQs first
  
• Don't send questions asking ``... will this work?''. Try it first, then report errors and ask the list why it *didn't* work. A good answer to ``will this work?'', is ``What happened when you tried it?''.
  
• If your email begins with ``I know this isn't the right place to ask this, but...'', don't send it to this list :) If you know it doesn't belong, send it to where it does.
  
• Check the FAQs first
  
• Look at the archives, (http://archive.develooper.com/beginners@perl.org/) to see if your question has already been answered on the list.
  
• Have meaningful Subjects. Subject lines like ``Help!'', and ``This isn't working!'' may be skipped by many people, and you may not get all the great help you want. Try to make your subject lines meaningful. For example, ``sprintf() trouble'', or ``Confused about formats''.
  

2.10 Cross Posting

The beginners-cgi list, as well as the beginners list are sister lists. Many people subscribe to both lists. The beginners-cgi list was created solely to seperate CGI questions from Perl-only questions. This means that you should never, ever cross-post to both lists unless given permission. So, if your question is CGI related, post it _only_ to beginners-cgi, if it is not CGI related, post to the beginners. If you, for some reason, can't determine if your question is CGI related, well, I don't know what to tell ya :)

3 - Other Resources

3.1 - What other websites may be useful to a beginner ?

• Perl Home Page - http://www.perl.com
  
• PerlMonks - http://www.perlmonks.org
  
• Perldoc - http://perldoc.perl.org
  

3.2 - What resources may be harmful to a beginner?

Beware of Perl4-like code-- You might find some script archives and unauthorized mirrors with old Perl4 versions of Selena Sol and Matt Wright scripts. Don't use those scripts. They are outdated and may even in some cases contain bugs or security problems since many may not have been updated in years. Instead, double-check the master archives at:
Selena Sol (Perl4 and Perl5): http://www.extropia.com
Matt Wright's Scripts Archive (All Perl 4) http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/
When looking at scripts, remember the guidlines in 3.3, below, to make an informed decision if a script is one you should be using, or learning from.

3.3 - What books would be good?

• Writing CGI Applications with Perl, by Kevin Meltzer/Brent Michalski (Addison-Wesley)
  
• Programming Perl, 3rd Ed. by Larry Wall, et al. (O'Reilly)
  
• Learning Perl, 3rd Ed. by Randal Schwartz, et al. (O'Reilly)
  
• Perl Cookbook, by Nat Torkington/Tom Christiansen (O'Reilly)
  
• Mastering Regular Expressions, by Jeffrey Friedl (O'Reilly)
  
• Effective Perl Programming, by Joseph N. Hall (Addison-Wesley)
  
• Network Programming with Perl, by Lincoln Stein (Addison-Wesley)
  
• Object Oriented Perl, by Damian Conway (Manning)
  
• Elements of Perl Programming, by Andrew Johnson (Manning)
  
• Data Munging with Perl, by Dave Cross (Manning)
  
• Teach Yourself Perl in 24 Hours, by Clinton Pierce (Sams)
  
• Beginning Perl, by Simon Cozens (Wrox)
  

3.4 I use IRC, any helpful Perl channels out there?

Glad you asked! There is indeed a place where you can ask all your Perl questions on IRC.

Network: irc.rhizomatic.net

Channel: #perl-help

4 - Think Before Posting!

Please always think before you write; when you write you are taking the time of over a thousand people.

If what you write takes just 30 seconds to read, that's more than 8 hours(!) of time burned that could have been used writing code. :)

So please keep the following things in mind when posting:

• Before you write a question please make sure you've checked all the FAQs and the documentation you know of.
  
• Before you write an answer, make sure you that you really are contributing to a solution and doublecheck that noone else already gave the same answer.
  
• If your question is about LWP (accessing webpages from Perl), DBI (accessing databases from Perl), or general Perl questions, there are other mailinglists you should use.
  

      Subscribe by sending mail to:
      libwww-subscribe@perl.org
      dbi-users-subscribe@perl.org
      beginners-subscribe@perl.org

  They all have digest versions too. You can subscribe to those by inserting -digest just before -subscribe, for example dbi-users-digest-subscribe@perl.org.

• If you think what you are writing may be taken in a way you didn't intend, please add a smiley :-) Many flame wars are stopped by a simple smiley!
  
• No flames. If your fingers are burning as you are typing the email, it would likely be best not to send it.
  

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