I used to worry about the popularity of Perl, but all I know is that it works perfectly for my web-based applications, as it does for the huge enterprise sites like Amazon. So, I put my worries about it's popularity in the same category as PM XP--interesting to monitor, but nothing to get worked up about.

I *am* glad I found the Monastery--I've not only learned the fundamentals and methods, but how to write safe and efficient Perl.