in reply to Re^5: Unicode issues with emc uemcli
in thread Unicode issues with emc uemcli

Hi Haukex,

Thank you once again. Your solution helped me automate an important task at work. While I am truly obliged to you, I am still not able to understand a 100% of everything that the IPC::Run3 module does even after reading the documentation, because my perl skill is pretty rudimentary. Considering this, I request you to please answer the following questions.

How did it occur to you to use Data::Dumper and then use IPC::Run3? Why not anything else? Is it instinct or based on some form output that you saw?

I have extremely basic understanding of IPC, perl references and such, which I am sure is clearly revealed in my questions, so how do I get better at understanding the CPAN docs? Clearly, they are good enough for most folks, but sometimes I find the content tough to understand. May be a book would help, which leads to the next question...

What book would you suggest for someone like me who knows perl but wants to get much better acquainted with perl? Yes, ofcourse, nothing would come close to writing code and asking questions here, but I truly want to get good with Perl hence the question on books...Edit - I currently have "Beginning Perl" by Ovid and its a fantastic book, but just wanted to know if I should go for some other books too?

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Re^7: Unicode issues with emc uemcli
by haukex (Archbishop) on Sep 08, 2020 at 16:53 UTC

    Glad to help!

    How did it occur to you to use Data::Dumper and then use IPC::Run3? Why not anything else?

    Because I've done a fair amount of research on the topic of calling external commands (see e.g. here), I knew that IPC::Run3 was likely to work best for you on Windows. Then, when debugging Unicode issues, one needs to see the data that Perl is storing (see also my post here) with nonprintable characters visualized, for which one needs to use a dumper module like Data::Dump, Data::Dumper with $Data::Dumper::Useqq=1;, or for difficult cases Devel::Peek.

    how do I get better at understanding the CPAN docs?

    I think this will come along with learning more about Perl. A lot of CPAN authors (including myself) will use terminology and idioms that they assume people know, so as you get better at Perl you'll recognize more and more of these. And in the meantime, you're always welcome to ask here!

    What book would you suggest for someone like me who knows perl but wants to get much better acquainted with perl?

    See my post here and threads like So what is your Perl book "Trilogy" anyway?

      Hi,

      Just around the time you were writing this, I updated the post with the info that the only perl book I have is "Beginning Perl" by Curtis Ovid Poe. Then I refreshed and saw this reply. Sorry for the timing issue.

        I updated the post with the info that the only perl book I have is "Beginning Perl" by Curtis Ovid Poe. Then I refreshed and saw this reply. Sorry for the timing issue.

        Your edit doesn't really conflict with my reply, so no worries. Thanks for marking your edit (How do I change/delete my post?).