Net::Z3950 - Perl extension for talking to Z39.50 servers

Why a Documentation Directory?

For a while, I experimented with having the HTML form of the POD documents living alongside the Perl source, but that turns out to be Hard To Do right - you end up fighting the MakeMaker - so I decided it wasn't worth the effort, and moved all the documentation into this separate directory, where the building of the HTML is controlled by a simple Makefile.

User Documents

The bulk of the documentation is from the PODs in the source files: it is intended to provide everything that a user of the Net::Z3950 module could need to know.

It should be read in the following order:

• Net::Z3950 module overview
• Tutorial
• The Net::Z3950::Manager class
• The Net::Z3950::Connection class
• The Net::Z3950::ResultSet class
• The Net::Z3950::Record class
• Standard options (NOT YET)
• The Net::Z3950::APDU class (Don't bother reading this)

Yes, it's ridiculous that I need to provide this hand-maintained index. What I should clearly do is have the SEE ALSO section of the top-level Net::Z3950 overview manual link to all the other manuals describing specific data types. Unfortunately (can you believe this?) I can't find any construct in POD which converts to a simple relative link in HTML.

Other things that may be worth reading:

• Thoughts about putting a GUI on Net::Z950/Perl applications
• Notes about work still to be done

Developer Documents

There are a few additional bits and pieces that may be of interest to people who want to develop the module further:

• Early documentation written on the bus and plane to visit Index Data in Denmark, and including some notes added during the discussions there, of which the most interesting are the revised interface sketches. Please understand that this is out of date, and of historical interest only
• A list of the music that I listened to while I was writing it. (OK, I admit it has a lot of mid-seventies semi-metal crud in it. That's because I did the work in my office at home, which has an old-fashioned turntable in it, and gives me a rare opportunity to revive my teen years with the aid of all that obsolete vinyl that's gathering dust in the corner. Also, if I were coming over all sentimental, I might comment on how certain songs on the Chris De Burgh album present an achingly resonant insight into the ephemerality of human life, the noble tragedy of the world's continuous losses as people grow old and die, and the human condition generally. But hey, this is supposed to be a technical document, so I won't mention any of that stuff.)