Perl and Executable Binary files?

[daino]

I am going to work on building a database application. One part of this is parsing pdf files which will feed the data into the database. Will be using SQLite build it C which has wrappers for Perl so there's not problem there.

From what I understand, Perl is a scripting language. From what I've read you make a file and feed it through an interpreter to make things run. (excuse the untechnical language).

I want to build an executable program and have thought of using perl because it seems to be good for reading files etc. Also I would assume from what I've read it would be a good language to use around d'bases. Is this correct?

Can I easily make executable files using perl or is it really complicated. I was originally going to use C++ but like what I've read about perl so far.

Any advice is welcome. If you can suggest any good books on perl (especially around making executables) as well it would be much appreciated. Also, which compiler should I use? Are there good free ones out there. Allot of questions I know. Thanks in advance.

Thanks
Danny2000

[2teez]

Hi,
Please,
check the following:

check pp http://search.cpan.org/~rschupp/PAR-Packer-1.013/lib/pp.pm
and PAR http://search.cpan.org/~rschupp/PAR-1.005/lib/PAR.pm
from CPAN. I think that is what you are looking for.
You may also google citrusperl and cavapackager.

[Kwetal]

I am going to work on building a database application.
One part of this is parsing pdf files which will feed the data into the database.

Are you really sure about this? Parsing pdf files is complex. Perl is not especially suited for this task: it is better at processing textual input. (However it is not impossible.)

[...]
I want to build an executable program and have thought of using perl because it seems to be good for reading files etc. Also I would assume from what I've read it would be a good language to use around d'bases. Is this correct?

Yes. You want to learn about the DBI modules (http://search.cpan.org/~timb/DBI-1.622/DBI.pm, http://www.perl.com/pub/1999/10/DBI.html).

Can I easily make executable files using perl or is it really complicated. I was originally going to use C++ but like what I've read about perl so far.

There is no point in "making executable files using perl". One writes a script that will be compiled and executed in one go by the Perl interpreter. From the Perl FAQ:

How can I compile my Perl program into byte code or C?
In general, you can't do this. There are some things that may work for your situation though. People usually ask this question because they want to distribute their works without giving away the source code, and most solutions trade disk space for convenience. You probably won't see much of a speed increase either, since most solutions simply bundle a Perl interpreter in the final product [...]

Any advice is welcome. If you can suggest any good books on perl (especially around making executables) as well it would be much appreciated. Also, which compiler should I use? Are there good free ones out there. Allot of questions I know. Thanks in advance.

You should start at http://www.perl.org/