1=head1 NAME 2 3perlcommunity - a brief overview of the Perl community 4 5=head1 DESCRIPTION 6 7This document aims to provide an overview of the vast perl community, which is 8far too large and diverse to provide a detailed listing. If any specific niche 9has been forgotten, it is not meant as an insult but an omission for the sake 10of brevity. 11 12The Perl community is as diverse as Perl, and there is a large amount of 13evidence that the Perl users apply TMTOWTDI to all endeavors, not just 14programming. From websites, to IRC, to mailing lists, there is more than one 15way to get involved in the community. 16 17=head2 Where to Find the Community 18 19There is a central directory for the Perl community: L<https://perl.org> 20maintained by the Perl Foundation (L<https://www.perlfoundation.org/>), 21which tracks and provides services for a variety of other community sites. 22 23=head2 Mailing Lists and Newsgroups 24 25Perl runs on e-mail; there is no doubt about it. The Camel book was originally 26written mostly over e-mail and today Perl's development is co-ordinated through 27mailing lists. The largest repository of Perl mailing lists is located at 28L<https://lists.perl.org>. 29 30Most Perl-related projects set up mailing lists for both users and 31contributors. If you don't see a certain project listed at 32L<https://lists.perl.org>, check the particular website for that project. 33Most mailing lists are archived at L<https://www.nntp.perl.org/>. 34 35=head2 IRC 36 37The Perl community has a rather large IRC presence. For starters, it has its 38own IRC network, L<irc://irc.perl.org>. General (not help-oriented) chat can be 39found at L<irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. Many other more specific chats are also 40hosted on the network. Information about irc.perl.org is located on the 41network's website: L<https://www.irc.perl.org>. For a more help-oriented #perl, 42check out L<irc://irc.freenode.net/#perl>. Raku development also has a 43presence in L<irc://irc.freenode.net/#raku-dev>. Most Perl-related channels 44will be kind enough to point you in the right direction if you ask nicely. 45 46Any large IRC network (Dalnet, EFnet) is also likely to have a #perl channel, 47with varying activity levels. 48 49=head2 Websites 50 51Perl websites come in a variety of forms, but they fit into two large 52categories: forums and news websites. There are many Perl-related 53websites, so only a few of the community's largest are mentioned here. 54 55=head3 News sites 56 57=over 4 58 59=item L<https://perl.com/> 60 61Originally run by O'Reilly Media (the publisher of L<the Camel Book|perlbook>, 62this site provides quality articles mostly about technical details of Perl. 63 64=item L<http://blogs.perl.org/> 65 66Many members of the community have a Perl-related blog on this site. If 67you'd like to join them, you can sign up for free. 68 69=item L<http://perlsphere.net/> 70 71Perlsphere is one of several aggregators of Perl-related blog feeds. 72 73=item L<http://perlweekly.com/> 74 75Perl Weekly is a weekly mailing list that keeps you up to date on conferences, 76releases and notable blog posts. 77 78=back 79 80=head3 Forums 81 82=over 4 83 84=item L<https://www.perlmonks.org/> 85 86PerlMonks is one of the largest Perl forums, and describes itself as "A place 87for individuals to polish, improve, and showcase their Perl skills." and "A 88community which allows everyone to grow and learn from each other." 89 90=item L<https://stackoverflow.com/> 91 92Stack Overflow is a free question-and-answer site for programmers. It's not 93focussed solely on Perl, but it does have an active group of users who do 94their best to help people with their Perl programming questions. 95 96=item L<http://prepan.org/> 97 98PrePAN is used as a place to discuss modules that you're considering uploading 99to the CPAN. You can get feedback on their design before you upload. 100 101=back 102 103=head2 User Groups 104 105Many cities around the world have local Perl Mongers chapters. A Perl Mongers 106chapter is a local user group which typically holds regular in-person meetings, 107both social and technical; helps organize local conferences, workshops, and 108hackathons; and provides a mailing list or other continual contact method for 109its members to keep in touch. 110 111To find your local Perl Mongers (or PM as they're commonly abbreviated) group 112check the international Perl Mongers directory at L<https://www.pm.org/>. 113 114=head2 Workshops 115 116Perl workshops are, as the name might suggest, workshops where Perl is taught 117in a variety of ways. At the workshops, subjects range from a beginner's 118introduction (such as the Pittsburgh Perl Workshop's "Zero To Perl") to much 119more advanced subjects. 120 121There are several great resources for locating workshops: the 122L<websites|"Websites"> mentioned above, the 123L<calendar|"Calendar of Perl Events"> mentioned below, and the YAPC Europe 124website, L<http://www.yapceurope.org/>, which is probably the best resource for 125European Perl events. 126 127=head2 Hackathons 128 129Hackathons are a very different kind of gathering where Perl hackers gather to 130do just that, hack nonstop for an extended (several day) period on a specific 131project or projects. Information about hackathons can be located in the same 132place as information about L<workshops|"Workshops"> as well as in 133L<irc://irc.perl.org/#perl>. 134 135If you have never been to a hackathon, here are a few basic things you need to 136know before attending: have a working laptop and know how to use it; check out 137the involved projects beforehand; have the necessary version control client; 138and bring backup equipment (an extra LAN cable, additional power strips, etc.) 139because someone will forget. 140 141=head2 Conventions 142 143Perl had two major annual conventions: The Perl Conference (now part of OSCON), 144put on by O'Reilly, and Yet Another Perl Conference or YAPC (pronounced 145yap-see), which is localized into several regional YAPCs (North America, 146Europe, Asia) in a stunning grassroots display by the Perl community. 147 148In 2016, YAPC was rebranded as The Perl Conference again. It is now referred 149to as The Perl and Raku Conference. 150 151OSCON had been discontinued. 152 153For more information about either conference, check out their respective web 154pages: 155 156=over 4 157 158=item * The Perl Conference 159 160L<http://perlconference.us/>. 161 162=item * OSCON 163 164L<https://www.oreilly.com/conferences/> 165 166=back 167 168An additional conference franchise with a large Perl portion was the 169Open Source Developers Conference or OSDC. First held in Australia, it 170also spread to Israel and France. More information can be found at: 171L<http://www.osdc.org.il> for Israel, and L<http://www.osdc.fr/> for France. 172 173=head2 Calendar of Perl Events 174 175The Perl Review, L<http://www.theperlreview.com> maintains a website 176and Google calendar for tracking 177workshops, hackathons, Perl Mongers meetings, and other events. A view 178of this calendar is available at L<https://www.perl.org/events.html>. 179 180Not every event or Perl Mongers group is on that calendar, so don't lose 181heart if you don't see yours posted. To have your event or group listed, 182contact brian d foy (brian@theperlreview.com). 183 184=head1 AUTHOR 185 186Edgar "Trizor" Bering <trizor@gmail.com> 187 188=cut 189