Sorry your question got reaped initially. Welcome aboard (though, you'll probably find the site easier to use if you register).

Yes, Perl is similar to those other languages in many ways, especially when you start out. But I think Perl gets quite a bit different from them as you get more advanced. In some ways, it is a rather unusual language. It puts a lot more stress on how the programmer thinks.

But it is way past my bed time so I won't get deeper than that, at least not right now.

        - tye