Update
The campaign has reached its goal 4 days before the dead-line. I've already created the first version of the Perl Maven eBook. You are still welcome to add more support. You'll be also mentioned on the Perl Tutorial page and in the eBook.
Perl Maven Tutorial
The Perl Maven Tutorial was written in the last 6 years or so as individual articles. The skeleton was based on my Perl training course, but the articles were written in a rather random order.
Since then Perl and the ecosystem around Perl went through some changes that are not reflected in the articles.
There were also plenty of comments on the articles that could be used to further improve the text.
In addition the articles could be better connected so one leads to the other. Almost like a book.
I'd like to set out on a project to go through the articles.
- Update them to reflect the newer versions of Perl as well.
- Incorporate the ideas from the comments.
- Fill any holes.
- Streamline the articles so they have a flow both as stand alone articles and as a series of articles that can be merged into a book.
It won't be a small task, but I think many people will benefit from it.
There are over 100,000 readers on the site every month.
The goal of the crowdfunding is to provide me some free time to update the articles. I know it won't cover all the time I am going to spend on it, but I'd like to have some justification.
All the updated material will remain freely available to the general public in HTML format.
I am also going to convert it to an eBook that will be sold via LeanPub, just as I am selling my other eBooks.
About the author
You might know me as the author of most of the 800 articles on the Perl Maven site and as the chief editor of the Perl Weekly newsletter. Some of you might also know me personally from YAPCs, Perl Workshops, FOSDEM, or from the 100s of Perl training courses I ran since 2000.
I am asking for your support now in order to help cover the time I am going to spend on this project.
Support and Perks
I set the goal of the campaign to be $4,000 and it is an all or nothing campaign. If we don't reach the goal every will get their money refunded.
As a supporter you can select Perks that include mentioning your name among the supporters on the Perl Maven site and in the eBook generated from the tutorial. If you pledge a higher amount of money you will receive copies of my eBooks:
For details see the list of perks on the right hand side of the page.
Worried about your CC? Other forms of payment
You might be worried handing over your Credit Card information to Indiegogo. I don't think you need to. I have not heard any complains of cards being used improperly after my previous 2 campaigns. However if you still prefer to use PayPal you can send the amount directly to me (Indiegogo has stopped accepting PayPal). I'll then submit that amount to Indiegogo if it is necessary to reach the goal.
Other Ways You Can Help
Regardless if you contribute money or not, you can help the campaign and the project in other ways too:
- Reach out to your friends, co-workers and ask them to support the campaign. (Use the Indiegogo share tools for that so we can see your impact.)
- Link to the Perl Tutorial on your web site or on social networks.
- Go over the articles of the tutorial and comment where you think it needs improvement.
- Send suggestions what else should be included in the tutorial.
