Try Python. It's very simple and very very powerful. I think
that eventually Python will replace Perl for larger projects..
Perl is just a very practical script language but it's meant
for small to medium projects. You can write larger projects
but I doubt whether you can maintain them in a long run.
Perl is undoubtedly SPECIAL, but the same way as assembler.
It's suitable to use it but for SPECIAL purposes.
And CGI scripting and text parsing is what's PERL's designed
for.
If you want larger projects and code clarity Python is the
best choise among beginners.