Sorry to follow myself up. I just couldn't choose which one of the wonderful responses to which to reply.

I took RP's comment to mean that small tools no longer need to be tossed and started over. Since the source to programs in Perl is readily available and the language is so powerful, it's easier in many cases to maintain a solution than to pitch it out and start over. That position is harder to reach with code in C, C++, Fortran, et cetera.

Perhaps I'm misinterpreting what Mr. Pike said, but what I understood him to say is not just a wonderful endorsement of Perl but also a wonderful statement about the state of affairs in programming. Now that I reread the question and answer, it's clear that it could be interpreted any number of other ways.

I apologize if I'm not writing as clearly as usual. I'm a bit distracted in that my wedding is two days from today. :-)