Map of CPAN

edit: That map visualization seems to show CPAN package namespaces sized relative to the rest of CPAN. This does nothing to visualize the size of CPAN itself, therefore I don't see how "That's why we use Perl" is a valid comment in response to this visualization seeing as it seems to be implying that they use Perl because of the breadth/depth of CPAN.

peteretep2• 15 years ago

Have you tried mousing over the pixels?

adancygier• 15 years ago

Very cool

ImprovedSilence• 15 years ago

I'm kinda new to perl, what's the best way to figure out what a lot of these packages actually do? The content of the readme's are hit or miss for quite a few. I'd be curious if there's a collection of CPAN modules complete with helpful abstracts. Or maybe just point me to the right place, if I'm missing something.

jrockway• 15 years ago

Most people don't generate a README file. Instead, read the POD, which for a distribution Foo-Bar is usually located somewhere like http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Foo::Bar

prakashk• 15 years ago

Install cpandoc[1]. It's supercharged perldoc command.

It lets you explore the CPAN ecosystem without installing the modules.

  $ cpandoc XML::Twig
  [ ... documentation for XML::Twig ...]

[1] Coincidentally, today's Perl Advent article covers cpandoc (http://perladvent.org/2011/2011-12-15.html).

gizzlon• 15 years ago

If you click on the name in the top-left corner, you'll be taken to metapan.org. Click on a module under "Modules" to view its documentation. The first module is often the "main" one.

There are also Tasks::*, such as [1], at CPAN that can be a good start when you're looking for modules for a particular purpose.

[1] https://metacpan.org/module/Task::Kensho

Map of CPAN

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