Think Perl 6: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist

Want to learn how to program and think like a computer scientist? This practical guide gets you started on your programming journey with the help of Perl 6, the younger sister of the popular Perl programming language. Ideal for beginners, this hands-on book includes over 100 exercises with multiple solutions, and more than 1,000 code examples so you can quickly practice what you learn. Experienced programmers--especially those who know Perl 5--will also benefit.

Divided into two parts, Think Perl 6 starts with basic concepts that every programmer needs to know, and then focuses on different programming paradigms and some more advanced programming techniques. With two semesters’ worth of lessons, this book is the perfect teaching tool for computer science beginners in colleges and universities.

• Learn basic concepts including variables, expressions, statements, functions, conditionals, recursion, and loops
• Understand commonly used basic data structures and the most useful algorithms
• Dive into object-oriented programming, and learn how to construct your own types and methods to extend the language
• Use grammars and regular expressions to analyze textual content
• Explore how functional programming can help you make your code simpler and more expressive

Laurent Rosenfeld has been a software engineer for about 20 years, working especially as a contractor for one of the largest telecommunication operator in Europe, particularly in the field of mobile networks. Over the last few years, he has been working especially in the fields of data migration, data quality, and data munging. He has written a number of tutorials on Perl 5 and Perl 6.

Allen Downey is a Professor of Computer Science at Olin College of Engineering. He has taught at Wellesley College, Colby College and U.C. Berkeley. He has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from U.C. Berkeley and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from MIT.