On Feb 1, Ron Goral said: >I have a very beginner's question. I've just been looking at the code for a >library file and noticed some, to me, very peculiar things. First, there is >text that is not commented, it is just typed in place. Why does this not >interfere with the script? Second, there are expressions like "=pod" and >"=cut" and "=head1". What do these mean? Third, there is a "1;" at the >very end of the file. I've seen that before, but what is the purpose? >Fourth, there is text like "I<delete_cookie> blah blah" and "B<MUST>" (I >assume that this last is a comment on text decoration). Can anyone tell me >what these mean? Is there a difference in a library file and a regular >script file that allows for this? Is there some tutorial or documentation >about the differences in writing a library/module versus a normal script >file?
The text that "is not commented", you will find, is placed inbetween the =XYZ statements. The =XYZ statements are called Pod directives, and the I<...> and B<...> statements are Pod markup. Pod is "Plain Old Documentation", a very simple markup language for documenting Perl programs. Read 'perldoc perlpod' for information on Pod. The '1;' at the end of the file is there so that the file returns a true value when Perl require()s it. See 'perldoc -f require'. As for how a library or module differs from a "normal" program, it's basically how an encyclopedia differs from your term paper. You READ your term paper, and it makes references to places in the encyclopedia -- you wouldn't use the entire encyclopedia as your term paper. -- Jeff "japhy" Pinyan [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pobox.com/~japhy/ RPI Acacia brother #734 http://www.perlmonks.org/ http://www.cpan.org/ ** Look for "Regular Expressions in Perl" published by Manning, in 2002 ** <stu> what does y/// stand for? <tenderpuss> why, yansliterate of course. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
