$Id: README,v 1.96 2002/06/08 03:29:19 rcaputo Exp $

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Detailed Information
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POE is bigger than this README.  Please see http://poe.perl.org/ for
much more information.

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What POE Is
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POE is a mature framework for creating multitasking programs in Perl.
It has been in active development since 1998.  It has been used in
mission-critical systems such as internetworked financial markets,
file systems, commerce and application servers.

POE is compatible with perl 5.005_03 through 5.6.1 and beyond.

POE includes functions for creating and using components.  Components
are modular, reusable pieces of programs.  Several components have
been published on the CPAN, and more are listed on POE's web site.

POE includes components and libraries for making quick work of network
clients, servers, and peers.  A "hello, world" web application takes
fewer than 50 lines of code, most of which is configuration.

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Documentation Roadmap
---------------------

POE includes so much documentation that the main man page includes an
index to the others.  See the "SEE ALSO" section in "man POE", or your
system's equivalent.

The CHANGES file lists all the changes in the past year.  A complete
change history, back to August 1998, is available on POE's web site.

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Distribution Details
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This distribution includes a samples directory that contains several
well commented example programs.  These programs are NOT installed.
Better examples are being written all the time and are available
online in the POE Cookbook.

POE's test programs may also be interesting examples, but they're more
for exercising POE than illustrating good coding practices.  The tests
also aren't installed, in case you were wondering.

All in all, the actual installed bits of POE are probably around a
third of the total distribution, and about a quarter of POE's
installed footprint is documentation.

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Installing POE
--------------

See http://poe.perl.org/?Where_to_Get_POE for download sites, Windows
tips, and anonymous CVS instructions.

POE may be installed through the CPAN shell in the usual CPAN shell
manner.

  perl -MCPAN -e 'install POE'

It involves a little more work if you have an older CPAN shell:

  perl -MCPAN -e shell
  cpan> install POE

To install on a Win32 machine using ActiveState's PPM:

  ppm install http://poe.sourceforge.net/packages/POE.ppd

POE can also be installed manually, and the latest versions of things
are available in CVS.

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Test Results
------------

POE's test results are large and constantly changing.  They have been
moved to the web site for easier maintenance.  POE is tested severely
before even the limited-distribution development releases.

  http://poe.perl.org/?POE%27s_test_results
  http://testers.cpan.org/search?request=dist&dist=POE

Please report test failures.  POE's ongoing improvement relies on
feedback from its users.

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Test Coverage
-------------

POE's test coverage report has also moved onto the 'web.  It gives a
very rough idea of the amount of POE that's been at least cursorily
tested, but it should not be used as an accurate gauge of quality.

  http://poe.perl.org/?POE%27s_test_coverage_report

----
Bye!
----

Thanks for reading!

-- Rocco Caputo / rcaputo@cpan.org / poe.perl.org / poe.sourceforge.net