Just to add my 4.5 pence, I agree with merlyn however I suspect he overstated the point. Without wanting to place words anyones mouth except my own, here is my opinion.

Programming is complicated Word its complexity has very little to do with the language you choose to use. The craft of programming is more of an art than a science. Many programmers thing (wrongly imho) that the way to be better programmers it to learn more of a language, I think the way to become a better programmer is to learn more of the craft beneath the language.

Perl has the potential to be a sloppy language, give me a white noise generator and I will show you a perl code generator. This sloppyness comes form the many and various different shortcuts and helps that make perl the power tool that it is. If you do not have the experience to know when to use these shortcuts and when not to then you will not advance your craft as a programmer. With an understanding that comes with experience you will use perl in more effective ways.

If your first language is perl you could trivially become a productive programmer, however is it the best way to learn the craft .. imho no it is not.

-- Zigster