Because of the heavy storage requirements, most ISPs don't offer Usenet access. However Google, as well as other specialty services, do offer access to current and archived Usenet message traffic. A variety of specialty software packages, called newsgroup readers, are available to browse and download newsgroup content.

Background     Perl Newsgroups

Browsing Searches

Newsreaders     Newsgroup Services

The value of Usenet discussion groups cannot be overstated! I use them all the time to research technical problems I'm having, plus I answer questions in the newsgroups to give back as much as I take!

Beginners
In addition to the Perl newsgroups listed further down this page, beginners should consider looking over the news.newusers.questions newsgroup. It is not about Perl, but will answer a lot of your questions about the Usenet and how to get the most from it.

Perl Newsgroups
These are the most active newsgroups which specifically cover Perl related topics.

• comp.lang.perl.misc - very active, general Perl topics
• comp.lang.perl.moderated - low volume, high quality
• comp.lang.perl.modules - very active, discussion about Perl modules
• comp.lang.per.tk - light volume, Tk GUI library
• comp.perl.announce - low volume, module updates
• comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi - active, moderated for quality content

Other Newsgroups
These popular newsgroups cover other programming topics which will be of interest to Perl programmers, particularly those who deal with Windows applications.

• comp.programming
• microsoft.public.helpauthoring
• microsoft.public.msdn.general
• microsoft.public.technet