>Any other experiences out there?
Sure....we needed Perl to gather information about our books from the
web....I used consultants (including MJD) to write code for me on and
off...Tim O. loved my work and now I am working with a "Sr. Software
Engineer" that is doing it full time. Probably our most spectacular
project was downloading the entire Amazon Purchase Circle database just
after they posted it in early September of 1999 for competitive analysis
(once again thanks to MJD). We then queried the database for books on
Perl, Java, HTML, etc (and the Harry Potter books as a control). I have
provided a list of the corporations that bought at least 200 copies of the
following Perl books below...I left off the list all the Universities (the
bulk of the list). This was a great piece of market intelligence which we
have used in the over and over again in our forays to HP, Intel, IBM, etc.
advocating Perl. Notice all the chip manufacturers like Intel and AMD. We
have since learned that they do a lot of automated testing of their chips
using Perl. BTW, Perl showed up in over 500 purchase circles, more than any
other single group except the Harry Potter books.
Anyway...these are the types of projects we are doing with Perl and there
really isn't any other language that can efficiently retrieve an HTML page,
parse it, grab data and stuff it into a database for later munging.
It was a very fun project.
Organization Title of Book Position in
Purchase Circle
CORPORATIONS
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 1
Cadence Design Systems Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 1
LSI Logic Corporation Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 1
National Semiconductor Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 2
DaimlerChrysler AG Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 2
Halcyon Perl Cookbook 2
Analog Devices, Inc. Programming Perl 2
Genentech, Incorporated Perl Cookbook 2
i2 Technologies, Inc. Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 2
Illuminati Online Perl Cookbook 2
NEC USA, Inc. Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 2
PANIX Public Access Networks Perl Cookbook 2
Silicon Graphics, Inc. Programming Perl 2
Software Tool & Die Programming Perl 2
Tivoli Systems Inc. Mastering RegEx 2
Iowa State University Programming Perl 2
Teradyne, Inc. Programming Perl 3
Bigfoot International Programming Perl 3
IC Group, Inc. Perl Cookbook 3
LSI Logic Corporation Programming Perl 3
Motorola Inc. Perl Cookbook 3
Silicon Graphics, Inc. Perl Cookbook 3
Synopsys Inc. Programming Perl 3
U S WEST Communications Programming Perl 3
Hoechst Marion Roussel AG Perl Cookbook 3
Aracnet Internet Services Perl Cookbook 4
AT&T Wireless Services Programming Perl 4
LSI Logic Corporation Learning Perl/Tk 4
Silicon Graphics, Inc. Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 4
3Com Corporation Programming Perl 4
Amazon.com, Inc Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 5
Analog Devices, Inc. Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 5
GeoCities Mail Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 5
i2 Technologies, Inc. Programming Perl 5
Motorola Inc. Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 5
Tektronix Inc. Programming Perl 5
Tivoli Systems Inc. Perl Cookbook 5
Teradyne, Inc. Perl Cookbook 6
IEEE Computer Society Perl Cookbook 6
Analog Devices, Inc. Perl Cookbook 6
DIGEX, Inc. Programming Perl 6
IC Group, Inc. Mastering RegEx 6
Motorola Inc. Programming Perl 6
Myriad Corporation Programming Perl 6
Pacific Bell Perl Cookbook 6
Synopsys Inc. Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 6
United Nations Programming Perl 7
Synopsys Inc. Perl Cookbook 7
Amazon.com, Inc Perl Cookbook 8
Bigfoot International Perl Cookbook 8
IC Group, Inc. Programming Perl 8
NEC USA, Inc. Programming Perl 8
Philips Electronics B.V. Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 8
XMission Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 9
Lancaster Internet Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 9
Tektronix Inc. Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 9
NCR Corporation Programming Perl 10
Novartis International AG Perl Cookbook 10
Surfree.com, Inc Learning Perl 10
Monumental Network Systems, I Programming Perl 3
Netscape Communications Corp. Perl Cookbook 7
Netscape Communications Corp. Programming Perl 8
XNet Information Systems, Inc Perl Cookbook 2
Biological & Genetic Products Perl Cookbook 2
COUNTRY
Papua New Guinea Learning Perl (2nd Edition) 2
Ukraine Programming Perl (2nd Edition) 8
Ireland Programming Perl (2nd Edition) 9
Luxembourg Programming Perl (2nd Edition) 9
GOVERNMENT
NASA Programming Perl (2nd Edition) 7
--Madeline
