I had originally planned to read Higher Order Perl and write my review immediately. When it became clear that I wasn't going to read HOP straight through, I figured I'd write a review when I was done. More and more, it looks like my reading of the last two chapters is being indefinitely delayed. I'm going to write what I think so far, while it's still more or less fresh in my mind.
Higher Order Perl was originally going to be given some fairly bland name, like "Handbook of Advancted Perl Techniques." This would have been a spot-on (but uninteresting) title. HOP provides the reader with explanation and demonstration of techniques for problem-solving that are often overlooked. The examples are complex and detailed, but not byzantine, and they're built up slowly, piece by piece, so that each line of code's meaning and significance are made clear.
The title "Higher Order Perl" refers to the book's most central technique, functional programming. While many programmers understand how to abstract a specific solution into a more general one, Dominus helps the reader learn to push the envelope, abstracing generic solutions into extremely generalized solutions that can be applied to seemingly-unrelated problems. This is frequently done by the construction of functions that build functions that build functions -- and so on, functions all the way down. Instead of solving the problem in base, earthly Perl, the programmer produces Perl elements of a higher order which, operating in harmony, become all things to all people.Well, I'm hyperbolizing, but I think it would be hard for me to over-emphasize the value of techniques like closures, iterators, and currying. They are, in part, what make Lisp so powerful, and the marriage of Lisp's power and Perl's expressivity is a happy one.As for the writing, it is good. The language is clear and the material is well-presented. One should be cautioned, though, that the book is dense. Dominus is constantly pressing onward, explaining new techniques or new ways to apply already-explained techniques. I found myself reading each page carefully and deliberately, only to turn back to it a few pages later, to be sure that I understood how the new material was relying on the old. It made the book a challenge to read, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable challenge. I never felt so frustrated by a bizarre idea that I gave up or so bored with an over-explained one that I skipped ahead.
Finally, while the techniques that Dominus presents are powerful and advanced, the required knowledge of Perl is not particularly great. Because he clearly explains the key Perl concepts that he uses (especially closures and associated scoping issues), any competent programmer with a working knowledge of Perl should be able to put the ideas in Higher Order Perl to work.
For serious Perl programmers, Higher Order Perl is a must-read book.
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