Conway (computer science, Monash U., Melbourne) provides novices and experienced Perl hackers alike with a guide to writing clean, readable, and maintainable Perl programs. The book begins with object orientation and Perl basics, and moves on to topics such as encapsulation, polymorphism, operator overloading, multiple dispatch and persistence. Conway incorporates examples of databases, pattern matching, multiprocessing, encryption, and debugging among others, and he includes transition guides from C++, Java, Eiffel, and Smalltalk. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)