BrowserUk,
I would change a lot of things.

• I would get rid of all the overloading of functions (dual purpose select, dual purpose angle brackets, etc)
• I am still not sure I like the extreme DWIM of shift with two different default variables depending on where it is used
• I would throw out all the junk (study, reset, formats, etc)
• I would get rid of the things today that have been usurped such as 2 arg open and bare word file handles
• If I were way smart - I would fix the whole threads problem and add syntax to allow certain auto-parallelization of things
• If I were way smart - I would add an optional type system removing the dynamic nature (magic, number/string, etc) away from certain variables allowing the speed up at runtime
• If I were way smart - I would take experimental features like sub attributes and prototypes and make them work and be useful
• If I were way smart - I would completely overhaul the OO system
• If I were way smart - I would find a way of reducing the sub calling overhead (perhaps by providing an optional syntax allowing the author to give the compiler optimization hints)
• I would enable strictures, warnings, and tainting by default
• I would make it such that dereferencing in all situations were pretty

The list goes on and on. On the other hand, I am quite certain that the changes I would make would result in a language that would suit me and likely not many others. I think this is more than just a matter of "take the bad with the good". I think that there is very little that almost everyone can agree should be changed (removed, added, augmented, modified, etc). I can also say with absolute certainty that the things that I would want to change today are not the same things I would have said 3 years ago which wouldn't have been the same things I would have said 6 years ago.

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