PERL development setup - beginner

[gophercg]

Hi I'm starting to learn perl. I've PHP experience, and I mainly want to learn basic Perl with mySQL interactions.

In class we logged onto school linux accounts remotely to run commands, edit .cgi files in place, or upload, all on the temp webhosting server. We add a 'd' suffix to turn on debugging.

Now I'm testing on x10hosting. How do people debug, run etc? Right now I upload my perl .cgi file each time to test. No debug messages, no idea syntax correctness, I only see a working page or ERROR. Also, mysql has its own online pseudo commandline.

So I'm wondering for both perl and mySQL, is it better to test remotely or locally, and what to setup on my machine (cygwin? fake sql perl simulators? a complete server on my laptop? dual boot to a prebuilt ISO of ubuntu server?) :eek4:

 

[garrettroyce]

I like the versatility of having my own development server. You can install XAMPP very easily and it includes Perl, Apache, and MySQL, so you can have your entire site copied on your own PC.

ActiveState makes ActivePerl. I've used ActivePython and it worked very well.

links:
http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

 

[misson]

Once you've installed Perl on you own computer, you can use the Perl debugger, the ptkdb package or try an IDE (Open Perl IDE is open source).

 

[gophercg]

xampp looks cool.
thanks,
im wondering if there's an easy setup via cygwin, closest to a linux like setup?
maybe works?:
http://search.cpan.org/dist/DBD-mysql/lib/DBD/mysql/INSTALL.pod

mainly cuz im used to cygwin, or maybe i can use xampp thru cygwin???

 

[garrettroyce]

xampp is standalone, it doesn't "get installed" it is a set of programs that run on your computer. It has a control panel that lets you start or stop the programs as well as command line tools.

All you have to do for xampp is copy the files to your computer. I recommend using the version with the installer. There's nothing to install, but it automatically copies the files to the right place and gives you the option to run the control panel at Windows startup.

The beauty of xampp is you don't have to do compile php yourself. However, you are stuck with the version it comes with.