We will use Windows environment through tutorial series. For your convenience, we will use all free development tools. You can also find such the same free tool in your platform such as Linux or Mac.
Download and install ActivePerl
You first need to download ActivePerl the latest version from http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/. The file we downloaded at the time of this tutorial being written was ActivePerl-5.10.0.1004-MSWin32-x86-287188.msi. You can also find the installation files for other systems and versions via following link http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/downloads/
To install ActivePerl just double click on the installation file. It will guide you through steps with options. Just make your own choices and click next.
To check you installation succesfully, you can open command line through Run window and type following command: perl -version. If you installed Perl successfully, you will see the version and copyright information.
Download and install Perl IDE: Open Perl IDE
Open Perl IDE stands for integrated development environment. It includes source code editor with syntax highlight, interpreter, and debugger tool. The IDE helps you a lot while develop Perl Program. We highly recommend that you should use Open Perl IDE because it is free, simple, intuitive and easy to use.
You can download the Open Perl IDE the latest version via following link: http://open-perl-ide.sourceforge.net/
With Open Perl IDE you don’t need to install to run it. First you unzip the downloaded file. (If you don’t have zip tool you can download a free tool called 7-ZIP from http://www.7-zip.org/ ). To launch the Open Perl IDE, you can open the unzip folder, find the file PerlIDE.exe, double click on it.
Now you are ready to start learning Perl!