The Perl modules

   The foundation of basically all tests done was a set of perl programs. Ten modules generated files which dBASE  could import directly, and the results were exported in the same format again. All statistics implemented in DPV  were reprogrammed from scratch in eighteen modules which fall back upon two packages -- one for handling the exported files from dBASE and one for the SDS  standardizations. The output modules with the help of commands like cmp, and sort made it possible to check the statistics produced by DPV.

Since those modules are too voluminous to present them all -- their source codes altogether need almost 200 kilobytes -- some details about two modules will be shown. The chosen representatives are the modules to check the patient's and the established complication's part one statistics. But first, a really short ``crash-course'' in  perl will be given to allow everybody to understand this chapter.

• A crash-course in Perl
  • Perl data structures
    • Scalar Values
    • Arrays or Lists
    • Hashes
    • Summary
  • Perl subroutines
• The Module's General Structure
• The Patient Module
• The Established Complications I Module