I cautiously agree with the other Devotees that the information you are looking for is “out there,” even right-here on this site. (Some of it was written by yours-truly, for whatever better-or-worse that might mean.)

I also submit that you're going to encounter that requirement no matter what language or tool you are using. PHP may (or may not) be “the devil you know,” but you're going to have to do a certain amount of dancing with whatever devil comes to the dance.

To give you just a little bit more guidance as to where to look to find the missing-pieces, let me very briefly outline what some of the essential “missing pieces&rdquo will be (even if some of these are done for-you):

• You're going to be setting up a directory containing executable Perl programs, and those programs are going to include a use lib directive pointing to a local-to-you Perl-modules directory.
• You're going to use CPAN, when you're logged on to the shared host via ssh, to install those modules into that local place. Which means that you'll be doing some reading about how to do that with CPAN...
• You're going to use mod_rewrite rules, declared specific to your own virtual-host(s), which will transform incoming URIs and/or redirect them to your chosen Perl script.
• Since you are using a machine that you do not and cannot administer, you'll be making local changes and directing both Apache and Perl to refer to them with regard to your site.

Remember, none of this is “new.” (New to you, granted, but not new.) Even though your first impulse might be to go run screaming for the hills, it's actually just “four questions and no answers, yet.”

So, it's time to do some research. You're really going to need to surf-the-books for a day or two as the little lights come on. Keep a diary, in the form of a legal pad and a sharp number-two pencil. When you have a question or a “show stopper,” write it down and then let go of it so it doesn't “stop” you anymore. Gradually, and with increasing speed, the lights will come on and the question marks on your legal-pad will be overwritten with checkmarks.

“Then, a mere padewan you no more shall be. A guru you will have become...”   ;-)