Although I did take a few programming classes first (Java, C, Cobol), Perl was really my first language. The code I learned from was a bit ugly to say the least (your typical poorly formatted .cgi). It wasn't anymore intimidating than any other language and thanks to great books like Learning Perl, I learned how to do some really cool stuff, really fast.

Perl fit like a new glove for me. It was a little tight at first, but quickly loosened up to a perfect, comfortable fit. :)