perlmeditation
koolade
<p>In many posts monks have sung the praises of using CPAN modules when possible, and I usually echo each song. A while back I started making the <a href="http://search.cpan.org/recent">recent uploads</a> page on CPAN a staple in my daily surfing, and found it to be a great way to find out about new modules and get quick updates on modules I already use. It wouldn't be that hard to fill up [Cool Uses for Perl] every day with a CPAN module.
<p>Keeping up to date on CPAN modules has been great because there are plenty of modules out there that I wouldn't have dreamed there'd already be a solution for in a CPAN module, and probably would have never searched. Even if I would have tried a search, unfortunately there are a lot of modules on CPAN that aren't very well named, and finding them in a search might prove a bit difficult.
<p>Yesterday a co-worker was doing searches on <a href="http://www.google.com">Google</a> to match a list of company names to their websites. I thought about it a while and remembered seeing [cpan://WWW::Search] on the list recently and in about 15 minutes was able to install it, scan the docs, and write a small script to save my co-worker some time. It was pretty rewarding.
<p>Has anyone else had a similar experience? Are there other good ways besides this site and mailing lists to keep abreast of Perl development?
<P>I also wanted to encourage people who are new to Perl or new to using CPAN modules to take a look at the <a href="http://search.cpan.org/recent">recent uploads</a> from time to time--it may save you some headaches that you wouldn't know could be solved. Even if you don't ever use a CPAN module, it's also a great way to see what other people are doing in Perl, and may give you some ideas on how to improve your skills.