AS LARRY WALL, creator of Perl, puts it, "Perl makes easy jobs easy and hard jobs possible." This is a large part of what makes Perl such a great language—most jobs really are easy in Perl. But that still leaves the hard ones—database access, GUI development, Web clients, and so on. While they are undeniably possible in pure Perl, they are also certainly not easy. Until you discover CPAN, that is. After that, all these jobs and more become a simple matter of choosing the right module. CPAN makes hard jobs easy. The first chapter of this book will show you how to get the most out of CPAN.
Although you can get a lot done just by using CPAN modules, you can go further by creating your own reusable Perl modules. Chapter 3 will improve your skills with a detailed discussion of module design and implementation.
Once you're a full-fledged Perl module programmer, you'll naturally want to share your work. Chapter 7 examines a collection of CPAN's most successful modules to discover the secrets of their success.
The final four chapters offer advanced training in the art of module building. Chapter 11 shows you how to package whole CGI applications as Perl modules using CGI::Application.
