I consider myself a computer user who programs to get a job done, and not a programmer. You are very limited as a computer user if you don't program.

I wanted to write a 21st century Family Photo/History Book, a sequel to a Family Book written in 1917. I didn't even consider a paper version. Paper books are static, and it is unclear if paper books will even be popular in 100 years, or if they will be something people collect like stamps? So, a "Living Book", in an electronic format seemed the way to go.

I chose Perl because I was told it could be done in Perl. Perl is difficult for a non programmer to learn, but makes life very easy after you start thinking in Perl. Initially I tried Tk and HTML for the UI, the results were ok but not really acceptable. I migrated to Flash for the User Interface, which I suppose is a seperate language, but I just view it as an exotic file format managed by Perl.

Perl seems to have been a very fortunate first choice. It is amazing how much you can accomplish without understanding the details of how a computer works. Although I view the Flash Player as a transitory technology, I am hopeful Perl will be like Fortran or Cobol, supported long after it has passed its prime.

Mindless plug from a non pro programmer, OReilly Books are like Lessons from the Gods!!!