Practical mod_perl

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Posted by timothy on Monday September 29, 2003 @05:15AM from the no-swine-in-site dept.

honestpuck writes with the review below of O'Reilly's Practical mod_perl, which he describes as "a doorstop sized volume that provides more information on using mod_perl than you ever thought you needed." Read on for the rest of his review, and to see whether you actually do need to know what's in this book. Practical mod_perl author Stas Bekman & Eric Cholet pages 858 publisher O'Reilly rating 8 - Good book, some flaws reviewer Tony Williams ISBN 0596002270 summary Good overall guide for running and developing with mod_perl

The almost 900 pages are divided into five parts and a bunch of appendices. Part I, "mod_perl Administration" covers building, configuring and installing mod_perl, followed by some Apache details and an 80-page guide to coding with mod_perl in mind. Part II, 'mod_perl Performance' deals with ways of getting the best out of Apache and mod_perl, with a little about security. Part III deals with databases, including persistent connections and data sharing. Part IV is a great guide to debugging and troubleshooting. Part V is a brief look at Apache 2 and mod_perl 2.

The appendices are useful. The first is a short section of around a dozen small 'recipes' for performing various tasks using mod_perl. I found these a good base for more complex tasks, particularly when combined with examples from elsewhere in the book. The second is a list of Perl modules that extend Apache and mod_perl with a brief description of each. The third gives some strategies for providers wanting to host Apache with mod_perl. The fourth and fifth give good overviews of the Template Toolkit and AxKit, an XML application server built on mod_perl.

The book is readable, tending towards heavy writing and certainly dense, but I didn't feel this was a problem in a book meant for a fairly advanced audience. I think you'd want to be a fairly good Perl programmer and well versed in Apache before needing this volume and shouldn't expect to be spoon fed. I thought it well written.

In a book of this size you expect to find a lot of example code, and you won't be disappointed. The book is peppered with short Perl examples and example command lines and configurations, all well explained. The one shortcoming is that there aren't many examples of full-blown applications where you can see everything discussed and have it explained all in one place. I would have appreciated some more of this, the examples tend to be on the short side.

This book sits well in the marketplace. It provides more details on running, installing and configuring mod_perl and Apache than mod_perl Developer's Cookbook (and also delves more into the reasons for doing something one particular way and much more help on debugging), though the Developer's Cookbook becomes a good companion to this volume as it provides a lot more in the way of examples. For those that want to get deep into the high end of mod_perl there is Writing Apache Modules in Perl and C, which is at core a good book on high end mod_perl programming.

O'Reilly have their usual website with Table of Contents, an example chapter, and errata. The authors have their own website with some of the same information and all the code examples from the book as both individual files and one 40k tarball.

I would recommend this book to anyone who administers and writes for mod_perl, it fills the missing pieces in mod_perl Developers Cookbook and is a good companion volume to it.

You can purchase Practical mod_perl from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

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O'Reilly by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-29 05:17 · Score: -1, Troll

http://www.oreilly-sucks.com
1. Re:O'Reilly by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-29 05:27 · Score: -1, Troll
  
  Here is an excerpt from the latest book from O'Reilly press. I look forward to the slashdot review:
  
  NIGGERS - The Missing Manual
  1St Edition, O'Reilly Press, NY NY 2003
  
  Congratulations on your purchase of a brand new nigger! If handled properly, your nigger will give years of valuable, if reluctant, service.
  
  INSTALLING YOUR NIGGER.
  
  You should install your nigger differently according to whether you have purchased the field or house model. Field niggers work best in a serial configuration, i.e. chained together. Chain your nigger to another nigger immediately on unpacking it, and don't even think about taking that chain off, ever. Many niggers start singing as soon as you put a chain on them. This habit can usually be thrashed out of them if nipped in the bud. House niggers work best as standalone units, but should be hobbled or hamstrung to prevent attempts at escape. At this stage, your nigger can also be given a name. Most owners use the same names over and over, since niggers become confused by too much data. Rufus, Rastus, Remus, Toby, Carslisle, Carlton, Hey-You!-Yes-you!, Yeller, Blackstar, and Sambo are all effective names for your new buck nigger. If your nigger is a ho, it should be called Latrelle, L'Tanya, or Jemima. Some owners call their nigger hoes Latrine for a joke. Pearl, Blossom, and Ivory are also righteous names for nigger hoes. These names go straight over your nigger's head, by the way.
  
  CONFIGURING YOUR NIGGER.
  
  Owing to a design error, your nigger comes equipped with a tongue and vocal chords. Most niggers can master only a few basic human phrases with this apparatus - "muh dick" being the most popular. However, others make barking, yelping, yapping noises and appear to be in some pain, so you should probably call a vet and have him remove your nigger's tongue. Once de-tongued your nigger will be a lot happier - at least, you won't hear it complaining anywhere near as much. Niggers have nothing interesting to say, anyway. Many owners also castrate their niggers for health reasons (yours, mine, and that of women, not the nigger's). This is strongly recommended, and frankly, it's a mystery why this is not done on the boat
  
  HOUSING YOUR NIGGER.
  
  Your nigger can be accommodated in cages with stout iron bars. Make sure, however, that the bars are wide enough to push pieces of nigger food through. The rule of thumb is, four niggers per square yard of cage. So a fifteen foot by thirty foot nigger cage can accommodate two hundred niggers. You can site a nigger cage anywhere, even on soft ground. Don't worry about your nigger fashioning makeshift shovels out of odd pieces of wood and digging an escape tunnel under the bars of the cage. Niggers never invented the shovel before and they're not about to now. In any case, your nigger is certainly too lazy to attempt escape. As long as the free food holds out, your nigger is living better than it did in Africa, so it will stay put. Buck niggers and hoe niggers can be safely accommodated in the same cage, as bucks never attempt sex with black hoes.
  
  FEEDING YOUR NIGGER.
  
  Your Nigger likes fried chicken, corn bread, and watermelon. You should therefore give it none of these things because its lazy ass almost certainly doesn't deserve it. Instead, feed it on porridge with salt, and creek water. Your nigger will supplement its diet with whatever it finds in the fields, other niggers, etc. Experienced nigger owners sometimes push watermelon slices through the bars of the nigger cage at the end of the day as a treat, but only if all niggers have worked well and nothing has been stolen that day. Mike of the Old Ranch Plantation reports that this last one is a killer, since all niggers steal something almost every single day of their lives. He reports he doesn't have to spend much on free watermelon for his niggers as a result. You should never allow your nigger meal breaks while at work, since if it stops work for more than ten minutes it will need to be retrained. You would be surprised how
Re:Old Joke by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-29 05:20 · Score: -1, Troll

they both suck cock.
and cmdrtaco loves to fuck with both of them.
Re:My $0.02 by Sir+Haxalot · 2003-09-29 05:23 · Score: 1, Troll

The above review was stolen from the Amazon website.

--
I have over 70 freaks, do you?
what about just "Impractical Perl"? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-29 05:23 · Score: 0, Troll

I know this MUST exist, looking at the majority of Perl code I find. Someone tell me please, where I can find this book. I am interested in the whole Impractical Software series actually. I am particularly excited about "Impractical PHP Tools" in which I will be instructed upon how to bastardize a PHP project enough to make all the "modules" inherently unusable outside of the very limited scope the original scripter thought of. There are supposed to be tools on how to turn any well designed modular system into a hardcoded piece of overlapping and spaghetti crap. I even hear they wisely placed a section inside instructing the reader upon how to hide documentation for the API and module development and ensure a proper "voyage of discovery" for new users.
Next I think I will get the special publication of "Why I am better than you: Proper angst and attitude in self labled open source"
Re:$5 cheaper and FREE shipping by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-29 05:23 · Score: -1, Troll

That's because it's a shitty book about a gay topic and only faggots would be interested in buying it. However, since this is slashdot all the faggots around here think everything should be free like their fucking hippie linux bullshit. They don't have jobs because their only "skills" is using some shitty OS that somebody else did all the work on, which no fucking company in their right minds uses. So they don't have any money and they keep using free OS kind of a vicous circle, broken only by dick sucking and anal nigger sex. $5 and they won't sell one fucking copy because "information should be free." Maybe someone will find a copy in the street and scan it and post it to some bullshit open sores web site. You fucking lazy nigger loving thieves make me sick.
Re:Sad news ... Stephen King dead at 55 by B3ryllium · 2003-09-29 05:26 · Score: -1, Troll

That's funny, except for one thing. Stephen King is 56. His birthday was 8 days ago.
It's a beautiful day... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-29 05:37 · Score: -1, Troll

To troll away...
Fucking pimple faced l00z3rs. This hole of a site sucks yack balls.
Re:how about you by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-29 05:38 · Score: -1, Troll

it really sucks how many hippies are in this industry. fuck linux, fuck free. free = no industry. liberal sluts suck.
Re:Sad news ... Goatse.ex Guy dead at 55 by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-29 05:40 · Score: -1, Troll

sad sad news how did he die?
how about you V2.0 by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-29 05:41 · Score: -1, Troll

code in Visual C++ you fucking GNU hippies
HONESTPUCK IS JON KATZ!!! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-29 05:43 · Score: -1, Troll

Haven't you REALIZED IT YET!!!

Jon Katz == Honestpuck!!!

You are all IDIOTS! Put it together, jack offs!
JON KATZ by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-29 05:51 · Score: -1, Troll

It's all Jon Katz's fault

idiots
Re:Sad news ... Goatse.ex Guy dead at 55 by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-29 06:17 · Score: -1, Troll

Heart attack while masturbating.