(Amusingly, Perl people often cite banks as a place where one might use Java, yet banks use a lot of Perl.)

It may be true that some banks are using more Perl than Java, but have you asked the question "what for?" In my experience, Perl is not used for full blown applications, but as glue, or as admin and DBA tools.

I think that banks are using more C++ than Java or Perl, and this is through reluctance to change or jump on the perceived Java bandwagon. My present client has a nasty taste in its mouth from a J2EE project that went horrendously over budget and had to be canned.

I'm actually being principally hired as a C++ programmer, though I have managed to get Perl used for application monitoring and suchlike. The RT4TJ argument has actually been quite useful to me for Perl advocacy.