Which Google API search module for Perl do you recommend?
REST::Google::Search or Google::Search
Ease of use is important because I only really need to get the top two, maybe three results from the web search.
Also, is there a module that one knows of for getting things from wikipedia? Again easy of use is important.
There doesn't appear to be much to choose between them.
For what it's worth, I'd go with Google::Search, mostly because it's written using Moose under the hood :D
Related
Is there a general purpose Perl Module with helpers for web development? Like form-builders, url helper, etc?
Based on my searches, I couldn't find anything. I'm already using Mason, but do not want to define my helpers as components from scratch.
Of course, more than you can shake a stick at.
The CGI module includes support for building forms, and other formatting things, if you want something very basic/low-level.
If you want more of a framework, there are dozens or more. pokey909's answer is a good place to start if that's your goal.
And there are hundreds or more special-use modules related to specific aspects of web applications. Search CPAN for these more specific ones.
Your question is open-ended and it sounds like you want to eat your framework and have it. Still, here are some starting points.
Form helpers
In approximately the order of preference:
HTML::FormHandler
HTML::FormFu
Rose::HTML::Objects
CGI::FormBuilder (I think this is abandoned)
URL helpers
URI
URI::QueryParam
URI::Escape
Path::Class
Mojolicious has some discrete pieces that might be worth looking at too. Even if you don't use a framework, you should look at them and the choices they make for plugins and helpers.
I cant see how you couldnt find anything else. Just google for "perl web framework".
There a quite a few, have a look here:
https://www.socialtext.net/perl5/web_frameworks
looking into connecting to a secure ftp site (using perl), and downloading all the .log files, saving in new directories named after the day I downloaded the files. I want to do this without modules, as a learning experience, but before I start I wanted to know if you guys thought it was doing, or is way too much for a relatively new programmer and I should just learn the modules?
If it's production work, no, use the modules. Your implementation will be buggy, missing features and unknown to the next person maintaining that code.
Otherwise, yes. It's good to learn the principles of a network protocol. I do have a reservation about FTP as it is a bit baroque, insecure, inefficient and on its way out. scp, HTTP or rsync would be more useful to put your energy into.
I'd start with reading the RFC and putting together your own FTP module using just network sockets. Document and test it as if you were going to release to CPAN as a full learning exercise in making a network module. Run it against some various FTP server implementations as they often interpret the spec differently (or not at all). Don't be afraid to cheat and look at what the existing modules do. Who knows, you might write something better than what's already there.
Learning the principals, just like we did at school for long multiplication and division, means we know how things work when we use a short hand.
However, when new to the world,just like when you learn to speak, you did "A is for Apple" etc, you didnt get explained about the finesse of grammar and all that, you learnt to express yourself enough to be understood.
Programming is a little like the same. While in an ideal world you can easily argue a prewritten generic library is often way less efficient than a specifically targeted set of routines. If the wheel you are using was already invented, it seems a lot of work to make a new one.
So, use the wheels and cogs afailable, once you really have the hang of it, NOW look at inventing your own more efficient ones.
Ad cpan modules:
Modules are an great learning source. Here is zilion modules and you can really learn much studying some of them.
And when/while you mastering your perl, you will start writing you own modules. When your program will use modules anyway (yours one), you can ask - why don't use modules already developed and debugged?
So, learn perl basics, study some modules (for example Net::SFTP) and if you still want write your own solution - it is up to you. :)
'
I learn best by taking apart something that already does something and figuring out why decisions were made in which manner.
Recently I've started working with Perl's CGI::Application framework, but found i don't really get along well with the documentation (too little information on how to best structure an application with it). There are some examples of small applications on the cgi-app website, but they're mostly structured such that they demonstrate a small feature, but contain mostly of code that one would never actually use in production. Other examples are massively huge and would require way too much time to dig through. And most of them are just stuff that runs on cgiapp, but isn't open source.
As such I am looking for something that has most base functionality like user logins, db access, some processing, etc.; is actually used for something but not so big that it would take hours to even set them up.
Does something like that exist or am i out of luck?
CGI::Application tends to be used for small, rapid-development web applications (much like Dancer, Maypole and other related modules). I haven't seen any real examples of open-source web apps built on top of it, though perhaps I'm not looking hard enough.
You could look at Catalyst. The wiki has a list of Catalyst-powered software and there are a large number of apps there - poke around, see if you like the look of the framework. Of this, this is Perl, so some of those apps will be using Template::Toolkit, some will use HTML::Mason... still, you'll get a general idea.
Try looking at Miril CMS. Although I don't know in which state it is.
I am the same with code, and had the same request. When I did not find a solution I created my own. which is https://github.com/alexxroche/Notice
I hope that it is a good solution to this request.
Notice demonstrates:
CGI::Application
CGI::Application::Plugin::ConfigAuto
CGI::Application::Plugin::AutoRunmode
CGI::Application::Plugin::DBH
CGI::Application::Plugin::Session;
CGI::Application::Plugin::Authentication
CGI::Application::Plugin::Redirect
CGI::Application::Plugin::DBIC::Schema
CGI::Application::Plugin::Forward
CGI::Application::Plugin::TT
It comes with an example mysql schema, but because of DBIC::Schema it can be used with PostgreSQL, (or anything else that DBIx::Class supports.)
I use Notice in all of my real life applications since 2007. The version in github is everything except the branding and the content.
Check out the Krang CMS.
A few years ago I did a lot of work with CGI.pm. I'm evaluating using it again for a quick project. Can someone bring me up to speed on the current state of developing with CGI.pm in the "Web 2.0" world? What are the best libraries on CPAN to use with it? Are there clean ways to include jQuery, YUI, other CSS libs, etc, and do some AJAX. There are of course lots of libraries on CPAN but what works and what is commonly used?
We aren't still doing this?
$JSCRIPT<<EOF;
...
EOF
I realize people are going to offer Catalyst as an answer. However, many people may have legacy CGI.pm apps they simply want to enhance. Is starting over really the best answer?
Personally, I'm no fan of Catalyst (too heavy for my taste) or Mason (mixing code and HTML is bad ju-ju), but I do quite well using CGI.pm for input[1], HTML::Template for output, and CGI::Ajax to provide AJAX functionality where called for.
If you're looking at frameworks, you may also want to consider CGI::Application, which is a widely-used and lighter-weight alternative to Catalyst/Mason.
[1] I can't recall the last time I called anything other than $q->param or $q->cookie from CGI.pm. There are still a lot of tutorials out there saying to use its HTML-generation functions, but that's still mixing code and HTML in a way that's just as bad as using here docs, if not worse.
Consider using something more modern, for example Catalyst. It will make your life much easier and you won't have to reinvent the wheel. I understand that it is just a small project, but from my experience many small projects in time become large ones :)
The "web 2.0" apps that I've worked with usually use client-side JavaScript to request JSON data from the server, then use that data to update the page in-place via DOM.
The JSON module is useful for returning structured data to a browser.
As far as including JavaScript, HTML, or whatever in a here doc - that was never a good idea, and still isn't. Instead, use one of the plethora of template modules to be found on CPAN. For a CGI, I'd avoid "heavy" modules like Mason or Template Toolkit, and use a lighter module for quicker startup, such as Text::Template, or Template::Simple.
Yes, you can write perfect web2.0 web applications WITHOUT using any framework on the server side in any language Perl, Python, Java, etc and WITHOUT using any JavaScript libraries/framework on the client side. The definition of web 2.0 is kind of a loose definition, and I'm guessing by web2.0, you mean Ajax or partial page refresh, then all you would really need is to focus on the following:
Know about the XmlHttpRequest object.
Know how to return JSON object from the server to the client.
Know how to safely evaluate/parse the JSON object using JavaScript and know to manipulate the DOM. Also, at least know about innerHTML. InnerHTML is helpful occasioanally.
Know CSS.
Having said that, it's a lot easier to use some framework on the server side, but not because it's required by web2.0 and it's a lot easier to use some JavaScript on the client like jQuery, mootools, YUI. And you can mix-and-match depends on your needs and your tastes. Most JavaScript provides wrapper around the XmlHttpRequest so that it works across all browsers. No one write "naked" XmlHttpRequest anymore, unless you want to show some samples.
It's perfectly possible to write "Web 2.0" apps using CGI.pm, but you'll have to do the work yourself. From what I've seen, the focus in the Perl development community has been on developing successor frameworks to CGI, not on writing helper modules to let legacy apps get bootstrapped into modern paradigms. So you're somewhat on your own.
As to whether to start over, what are you really trying to accomplish? Everyone's definition of "Web 2.0" is somewhat different.
If you're trying to introduce a few modern features (like AJAX) to a legacy app, then there's no reason you need to start over.
On the other hand if you're trying to write something that truly looks, feels, and works like a modern web app (for example, moving away from the page-load is app-state model), you should probably consider starting from the ground up. Trying to make that much of a transformation happen after the fact is going to be more trouble than it's worth for anything but the most trivial of apps.
I agree with Adam's answer, you probably want to use Catalyst. That being said, if you really don't want to, there's nothing preventing you from using only CGI.pm. The thing is, Catalyst is a collection of packages that do the things you want to make Web 2.0 easy. It combines the various templating engines such as Template Toolkit or Mason with the various ORM interfaces like DBIx::Class and Class::DBI.
Certainly you don't have to use these things to write Web 2.0 apps, it's just a good idea. Part of your question is wondering if javascript and CSS frameworks like jQuery, or prototype require anything from the server-side code. They don't, you can use them with any kind of server-side code you want.
For new apps, if you don't find Catalyst to your taste, Dancer is another lightweight framework you may like. There are also plenty of others, including CGI::Simple, Mojo/Mojolicious, Squatting...
Any of these lightweight frameworks can take care of the boring parts of web programming for you, and let you get on with writing the fun parts the way you want to.
If the jump from CGI.pm to Catalyst seems too daunting then perhaps something like Squatting might be more appropriate?
Squatting is a web microframework and I have found it ideal for quick prototyping and for replacing/upgrading my old CGI scripts.
I have recently built a small "web 2.0" app with Squatting using jQuery with no issues at all. Inside the CPAN distribution there is an example directory which contains some programs using jQuery and AJAX including a very interesting [COMET](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_(programming)) example which makes use of Continuity (which Squatting "squats" on by default).
NB. If required then you can later "squat" your app onto Catalyst with Squatting::On::Catalyst
There is also CGI::Ajax.
I'm looking at introducing multi-lingual support to a mature CGI application written in Perl. I had originally considered rolling my own solution using a Perl hash (stored on disk) for translation files but then I came across a CPAN module which appears to do just what I want (i18n).
Does anyone have any experience with internationalization (specifically the i18n CPAN module) in Perl? Is the i18n module the preferred method for multi-lingual support or should I reconsider a custom solution?
Thanks
There is a Perl Journal article on software localisation. It will provide you with a good idea of what you can expect when adding multi-lingual support. It's beautifully written and humourous.
Specifically, the article is written by the folks who wrote and maintain Locale::Maketext, so I would recommend that module simply based upon the amount of pain it is clear the authors have had to endure to make it work correctly.
If you have the time then do take a look at the way the I18N is done in the Jifty framework - although initially quite confusing it is very elegant and usable.
They overload _ so that you can use _("text to translate") anywhere in the code. These strings are then translated using Locale::Maketext as normal.
What makes it really powerful is that they defer the translation until the string is needed using Scalar::Defer so that you can start adding the strings at any time, even before you know which language they will be translated into. For example in config files etc. This really make I18N easy to work with.