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Username:TempleUniversityBook:PerlbyExample,FifthEdition.Nopartofanychapterorbookmaybereproducedortransmittedinanyformby
anymeanswithoutthepriorwrittenpermissionforreprintsandexcerptsfromthepublisherofthebookorchapter.Redistributionorotherusethat
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ViolatorswillbeprosecutedtothefullextentofU.S.FederalandMassachusettslaws.

1.2WhatIsanInterpretedLanguage?
TowritePerlprograms,youneedtwothings:atexteditorandaperlinterpreter,whichyoucandownloadveryquicklyfromanynumberofWeb
sites,includingperl.org,cpan.org,andactivestate.com.Unlikewithcompiledlanguages,suchasC++andJava,youdonotneedtofirst
compileyourprogramintomachinereadablecodebeforeexecutingit.Theperlinterpreterdoesitallithandlesthecompilation,interpretation,
andexecutionofyourprogram.AdvantagesofusinganinterpretedlanguagesuchasPerlisthatitrunsonalmosteveryplatform,isrelatively
easytolearn,andisveryfastandflexible.
LanguagessuchasPython,JavaScript,andPerlareinterpretedlanguagesthatuseanintermediaterepresentation,whichcombinesboth
compilationandinterpretation.Itcompilestheuserscodeintoaninternalcondensedformatcalledbytecode,orthreadedcode,whichisthen
executedbytheinterpreter.WhenyourunPerlprograms,youneedtobeawareoftwophases:thecompilationphase,andthentherunphase
whereyouwillseetheprogramresults.Ifyouhavesyntaxerrors,suchasamisspelledkeywordoramissingquote,thecompilerwillsendan
error.Ifyoupassthecompilerphase,youcouldhaveotherproblemswhentheprogramstartsrunning.Ifyoupassbothofthesephases,you
willprobablystartworkingonformattingtomaketheoutputlooknicer,improvingtheprogramtomakeitmoreefficient,andsoforth.
Theinterpreteralsoprovidesanumberofcommandlineswitches(options)tocontrolitsbehavior.Thereareswitchestochecksyntax,
sendwarnings,loopthroughfiles,executestatements,turnonthedebugger,andsoforth.Youwilllearnabouttheseoptionsthroughoutthe
followingchapters.

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