Resources

• The Perl/Tk FAQ is maintained by Cameron Laird, and explains where to download and how to install Perl/Tk if it isn't already present on your system.
  
  
• There is also a comp.lang.perl.tk newsgroup and a ptk mailing list. See also the Perl/Tk Wiki.
  
  
• The User Interface section on CPAN includes the advanced modules discussed in this article.
  
  
• Steve Lidie wrote three articles on Perl/Tk for the first three issues of The Perl Journal, and has republished the first of these, "Perl and the Tk Extension," on his Web site -- where he also keeps a page of Important Perl/Tk links.
  
  
• Steve Lidie also wrote the introductory "Getting Started with Perl/Tk" (Perlmonth, April 1999); this has also been republished at his site. Steve's "A Drag-and-Drop Primer for Perl/Tk" (perl.com, December 2001) and "Creating Custom Widgets" (perl.com, January 2002) cover more advanced topics.
  
  
• " Include GUIs in your server programming with Perl/Tk" (developerWorks, November 2002) by Cameron Laird further explores the ease with which you can build user-friendly interfaces with Perl/Tk.
  
  
• If you are well familiar with Perl, and just new to Perl/Tk, you might also enjoy the perl.com slide presentation Perl/Tk Tutorial (perl.com, October 1999).
  
  
• Previously for developerWorks, Philipp contributed "Data visualization using Perl/Tk" (developerWorks, August 2003), which shows how to build custom plotting and graphing tools with Perl/Tk.
  
  
• An overview over Perl/Tk comes with the standard Perl distribution: type perldoc Tk at the command line. There is also a brief separate discussion of callbacks in Perl/Tk. See perldoc Tk::callbacks.
  
  
• Mastering Perl/Tk (O'Reilly & Associates, 2002) by Stephen Lidie and Nancy Walsh is for novices and experienced programmers alike.
  
  
• Learning Perl, 2nd edition (O'Reilly & Associates, 1997) by Randal L. Schwartz and Tom Christiansen is one of Philipp's favorite references. The book is now in its third edition (2001).
  
  
• Find more resources for Linux developers in the developerWorks Linux zone.
  
  
• Purchase Linux books at discounted prices in the Linux section of the Developer Bookstore.
  
  
• Develop and test your Linux applications using the latest IBM tools and middleware with a developerWorks Subscription: you get IBM software from WebSphere, DB2, Lotus, Rational, and Tivoli, and a license to use the software for 12 months, all for less money than you might think.
  
  
• Download no-charge trial versions of selected developerWorks Subscription products that run on Linux, including WebSphere Studio Site Developer, WebSphere SDK for Web services, WebSphere Application Server, DB2 Universal Database Personal Developers Edition, Tivoli Access Manager, and Lotus Domino Server, from the Speed-start your Linux app section of developerWorks. For an even speedier start, help yourself to a product-by-product collection of how-to articles and tech support.