Blue has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I notice that a great number of requests for how to do something that end up pointing to modules. This is one of the strengths of Perl. However, since questions keep rolling in where using a particular module is the answer, perhaps this is not the strength of all Perl programmers.

Besides the CPAN search, how else to find 'appropriate' modules? If a coder doesn't know what's out there they may not think about things in a way which use existing modules. What's the best way to make sure you are not re-inventing the wheel?

=Blue
...you might be eaten by a grue...

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Finding the Correct Module
by footpad (Abbot) on Nov 17, 2000 at 04:39 UTC
    Blue,

    A couple more basic ideas come to mind:

    • Get the Perl Cookbook and refer to it heavily (along with the FAQ's and other other related books of the canon).
    • Use Super Search to find nodes containing relevant keywords
    • Use Deja's Power Search to scan comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi, comp.lang.perl, and other appropos newsgroups for related keywords.
    • Use _good_ web search (google, northernlight, etc) engines to find good sites.

    As a rule, I've learned that most tasks have already been done. The details may vary, but not the actual approach. You simply need to do your homework to find out where it's been posted. :-)

    --f

    P.S. Don't forget about searching the documentation at CPAN. If you don't pay attention to that little drop-down, you might miss that option.

[reply]
Re: Finding the Correct Module
by AgentM (Curate) on Nov 17, 2000 at 00:41 UTC
    I would strongly recommend to everybody (not just to newbies) to activate the CPAN nodelet in their user settings. It includes a listing of the latest modules as well as the search form for fast and easy CPAN searches. Could we get the search results in a new window vroom?
    AgentM Systems nor Nasca Enterprises nor Bone::Easy nor Macperl is responsible for the comments made by AgentM. Remember, you can build any logical system with NOR.
[reply]

      The only way I've found to find the appropriate CPAN module in many cases is to browse CPAN before you need a module and have passing familiarity with much of what is there. But http://search.cpan.org/ can be very helpful.

      vroom, has the CPAN nodelet been fixed so that it no longer locks up all access to PerlMonks when whatever it feeds from goes south? I enjoyed having it on but disabled it once I realized that PerlMonks appearing locked up during several mornings was due to it.

              - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")
[reply]

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