Summary
If you've completed this chapter, congratulations! You've now been introduced to the latest and greatest version of Perl, and most of its powerful new features. You've also been exposed to some relatively simple examples which utilize these new features.
In general, the most important concepts you should've gleaned from reading this chapter are
- A general understanding of the new Perl5 features.
- A good grasp of the various uses for references.
- An understanding of how the Perl5 module works, and its variations.
- What a Perl5 object is, and how it is used.
- How to invoke a module's methods directly, and through the use of blessed references.
- The difference between require() and use().
- The differences and similarities between an imported method via the use() statement and an inherited method via the @ISA array.
- How to subclass a given Perl5 module, and how to override/augment a parent class's methods.
If you're satisfied that you understand these items, then you're now ready to explore the rest of the chapters and examples in this book. Where appropriate, we may point you back to this chapter to refresh your memory as you go along.
Hopefully, you've also taken the time to explore the external Perl5 POD documentation along the way and learn how it works. You'll be glad you did.