I started with a similar background and a similar situation. So I have one question. Where did you learn chmod? I started with 3 commands, they were ls, cd, and rm.

However I have to agree with merlyn's comments below. A language needs to have a core philosophy IMHO to succeed. And Perl's really is well summarized as the Cliff Notes version of Unix. In learning Perl, I also learned to appreciate the Unix philosophy. Now is it right in all things? No. Neither is Perl. But by keeping a coherent philsophy Perl keeps a center. And I think that matters.