While Perl may be able to execute code fast, that isn't the focus of the language. The focus of Perl, as documented by many more Perlish than me, is to improve programmer efficiency. Now, it's nice to have efficient programmers while still having somewhat efficient programs, and I love it when that happens. I love being able to write programs extremely quickly that just happen to run quick enough so that I don't have to rewrite them.

But, the point theorbtwo is making is that, for the first writing of a program, you shouldn't worry about CPU speed, RAM, disk, or any other plebian item. The items that need to be concerned with in the first pass, in order, are:

1. Does the program do what it needs to do?
2. Does the program have any horrible crash-me type bugs?
3. Did I finish the program in the time allotted to me by those paying me?
4. Does the program have any medium-sized bugs that will occasionally trip users up?
5. Is the program fast enough for the average usage?
6. Does the program have any bugs at all?
7. Can I improve the program's internal structure to make future changes easier?
8. Can I improve the program's internal structure so that someone else can make changes without messing up my stuff?

Now, a requirement for item #1 may be "Execute in such-and-such time", in which case execution speed is a priority above programmer time. And, if that's the case, then Perl may not be the appropriate language for such an endeavor. If it is not, then Perl may be appropriate.