maybe try

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
my (@script) = <<SH;
# Your shell script goes below this line
echo "cool!"
echo "perl does shell scripts, too?";
SH
map { system $_; } @script;
[download]

if it aint broke, don't fix it. (: seriously though, merlyn has the right of it. and one of the best ways to learn one language is to compare it to one you already know... and try to make the new do the nifty things you did in the old. (well, it's one of my favorite ways to learn, at any rate.)
good luck,
strfry()

Originally posted as a Categorized Answer.