1.3. The perl development cycle

Perl is interpreted, so no compilation is needed. To use perl, one should create a text file that contains the Perl program. This file can be written using any text editor available on your system. It is recommended that you end the filenames of your perl scripts with ".pl" in order to designate them as perl scripts.

After you are done, you should invoke the perl interpreter with the name of the file you created. Assuming your file is name "myscript.pl", you should type:

$ perl myscript.pl

At the command line (and press Enter). If your program contains errors or warnings they will be displayed. If your program does not contain errors, it will be executed.

The fact that the program was executed does not mean it does what you want it to do. We will learn how to debug Perl programs, later on in this series.