Rating: 

I'm still in the process of reading this book, affectionately nick-named the llama by the Perl community. But I feel I've made it far enough in that I have a good feel for the writing style and overall quality of the book.

While there are a couple of technical errors here and there, they are mostly to do with the formatting and typography rather than the code. If you do find an error in your edition (there have been many additional printings of the 4th Edition), the books website (where you're probably reading this review right now) has a comprehensive list of errata, along with their corrections.

I have to say I really enjoy the writing style of the authors, and from what I've seen of the alpaca, there's more to come. They make the subject matter interesting, covering only what's needed, deferring more advanced techniques to later texts.

In my own experience, I am finding this book a great help in clarifying certain concepts as I read from cover-to-cover. But since I have decided to take on the maintenance of a previous programmer's Perl/Tk program, the learning curve is a little steeper than it may otherwise have been. That said, if I'd not decided to look at this code, I'd not likely be bothering to learn Perl at all, and what a shame that would be. I do find it to be a rather enjoyable language. Anyway, this book is a great tool, and is easy to use in conjunction with Mastering Perl/Tk as well as the Definitive Reference: the Camel.

Finally, a note to the authors: Keep up the great work! This is exactly the kind of book I have come to expect from O'Reilly, though I have, on occasion, been disappointed.