I've stuck with Perl for many reasons, but this week I've been very glad that I can write crappy, dirty scripts that get a job done, then move on with life. I usually like to code to nice standards, but sometimes I just don't feel like trying that hard, but need to get something done quickly. I can create a grand mess of Perl code with poor formatting, haphazard variable names (no strict!) and all sorts of other things we tell people not to do, and 5 minutes later I have the problem solved and never see the script again.

A lot of people create programs that they use over and over again, and that's something else. In another part of the universe is getting data from one place to the other, and all I really want is the quick fix without getting out the full force of an IDE, makefile, and so on. Sometimes I don't even want a separate file and just throw in a __END__ and put the script right above it. Perl can be the ugly, spitting camel that can get across the desert, and I'm thankful for that. :)

Ask me next week and I'll have some other answer and deny I ever said any of this.

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brian d foy <bdfoy@cpan.org>

I need to learn. It is a need, not a desire, without it, my brain simply lashes out in unkind ways.

Perl is fun to learn, partly because of TIMTOWTDI, partly because we have perl monks here to ask lots of silly questions about weird stuff that we never plan on using, just want to know.

Truly and honestly, is darned addictive! Should come with a warning label!

Other languages? Can't do all the same fun stuff with FORTRAN as you can with perl.

TV - C'mon, really?

A cleverly crafted line of Perl is like a marvelous turn of phrase from a piece of great literature, like a lovely mysterious person smiling across a crowded room, like an inspired jazz turnaround, like...(Well, I guess those other things are great too.)
Yes, it is addictive. I never had that feeling about any other language (although I did really derive a lot of pleasure learning and using LISP many years ago.)
chas

A few suggested reasons
• perl is easy to learn the basics of, but there's always more to learn
• it allows you to use the same language to knock up an admin fix, or write an app
• for any given job, there's usually a CPAN module that will help - no charge
• there's a strong, enthusiastic and cohesive community (right here for example)
• the documentation conventions make docs generally easy to follow and understand
• perl being a slightly quirky language in design terms, its unique and it appeals to people in a way no other programming language does

Perl is the computer users swiss army knife - the posidrive screwdriver blade might not be as good as a freshly charged Makita cordless with a #2 phillips bit, but it does the job without any fuss when you need it to; saving you time, money and effort.

Plus its fun. Golf can be played in any language - my dad used to play it in the 1960's on punchcard based mainframes. But obfu's?

(but seriously...) IMHO, because perl is based on natural language principles (same link as above) and hence TIMTOWTDI, it allows more scope for self expression than any other programming language - thats what makes it fun.

Perl is the computer users swiss army knife

Make that Swiss army chainsaw.

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Caution: Contents may have been coded under pressure.

Two basic reasons for me. First, because programming is my hobby - it's just something I enjoy doing. Second, see the first rule in Keeping, and advancing in, your job. I find perl to be unbelievably valuable towards this end.

I worked on my going out more problem by finding coffee shops with free wifi. It's just fun language to write!

Perl has been a great tool for me. I was always good at shell scripts and before that, batch files and most other sorts of non-structured programming. Finding ways to automate all manner of things has always been something I like to do. After I finally topped out on shell scripting, Perl was the logical choice.

Perl was an easy language to gravitate towards because you can still use it without knowing any of the nuts and bolts. You can essentially write a Perl script in the same fashion you would write a shell script. One of my first scripts was to translate one of my shell scripts into Perl. Nearly a line-by-line rewrite. Although it makes my cheeks turn red to look at that script now, it ran in 4 seconds. The shell script took 1.5 hours for the *exact* same function. I knew I was on the right track.

After that, learning more Perl meant I was able to do better work. Eventually, I was helping *other* people do better work. People started appreciating what I was doing and started asking if I could help with other things. Learned some more Perl. Better work became possible.

All the while I was writing Perl as someone who had only dabbled in BASIC and derivatives as well as a bit of Pascal (so I could write "door" modules for my bbs software). But you can still use Perl with only a low-level understanding of programming. Someone at this skill level isn't going to be able to pick up C and just write a little snippet that wades through some database output.

The higher-level stuff in Perl is patient. When you're ready, it will be there for you. Especially if you have a monk or three to show you the way. ;)

--
"This alcoholism thing, I think it's just clever propaganda produced by people who want you to buy more bottled water." -- pedestrianwolf

It's much the same for me. I could hardly get the hang on any language that is not Perl. With Perl it was quite natural to get involved with it. I guess it's "simply" the Right Language for Me(TM), as it is for most of us here. But I couldn't say what it is that actually makes it such.

OTOH I'm also quite naturally interested in programming languages as of themselves, i.e. concepts, paradigms, techniques, and so on (even though I have not pursued this interest much). And in this sense every now and again I'd like to study some other language to see other philosophies, but in the end I'm always sticking with Perl.

Oh, and while this is true of many other languages, as of most things in life, it's "more true" of Perl: you never ever terminate learning! Just the other day Tanktalus pointed me to an OO construct that must be relatively common but that I had never met, as you can see in this node: Re^4: Seeking advice for OO-related strategy.

From the above mentioned POV of programming language concepts, despite the common claim that Perl is more {practical,magical} than elegant, I find it quite rich as a workbench, due to its eclectic heritage. Of course this will be even more true of the more and more often mentioned Perl6, with its multiparadigm nature, and despite the fact that I dislike some of the charachteristics it is supposed to have, just like everybody does, I'm eager to see the beast... to learn even more Perl!

I first did Perl coding back in 1997, but I was just maintaining and extending a database-driven site that somebody else wrote. I moved on to other languages for other purposes (embedded assembly, dedicated C/PicoBSD on headless x86 boxes, PHP+MySQL+Apache, etc). Now, I'm using Perl extensively at Sandia for a dozen different things.

The key for me is that with Perl+CPAN+FreeBSD, I'm so darn productive! Perl truly is a Swiss Army knife! Yes, you sometimes end up denting your fingers when using it to pry open something, but you do get it pried open. I think that the raw power of the language, coupled with the growing CPAN archive that goes in all sorts of directions, and the underlying power and flexibility of FreeBSD, is a path to really being a useful programmer. I've only been doing Perl for two months here, but already I've been able to take peoples' breath away with simple applications of Perl and GD.

To me, it's just hammering nails, but to them it's making their data visible and usable, and doing it quickly.