Editors

If you're running the MacPerl application (as opposed to the MPW tool), you should consider installing a "real" text editor. The MacPerl internal editor works, but it has some drawbacks (a 32 KB limit, no real tabs, lack of a good search and replace facility, etc.).

There are some fine alternatives available. The following come highly recommended:

• Alpha is a feature-rich shareware text editor based on the Tcl language. (Nonetheless, it's very popular for writing MacPerl scripts :-).

• Bare Bones Software, Inc. makes BBEdit, another feature-rich (commercial) text editor. Versions of BBEdit from 5.1 onward provide direct support for MacPerl programming, use as filters, etc.

  BBEdit-Lite, a slightly less featureful version of the same program, is available at no charge. If you're using BBEdit-Lite or a version of BBEdit prior to 5.1, you may want to install Brad Hanson's BBEdit Plug-Ins. His plug-ins (six, at present) facilitate the use of BBEdit as an external editor for MacPerl.

• VIM (Vi IMproved) is an improved, Open Source version of the editor "vi", one of the standard text editors on UNIX systems. VIM adds many of the features that you would expect in an editor: Unlimited undo, syntax coloring, split windows, visual selection, GUI support, and much much more.

Databases

• mSQL is a freeware database that runs on OS/2, Unix, and Windows systems. Perl has been the top way to communicate with mSQL for some time.

Web Servers

There are several Web Server products available for the Macintosh. Many of these can run CGI scripts, which you can write in MacPerl. The following have been recommended and/or used by members of the MacPerl mailing list:

• Quid Pro Quo is a popular shareware Web server that includes a wide variety of features generally found in more expensive server programs.

• WebStar is an extremely powerful and feature-rich commercial Web Server from StarNine / Quarterdeck.