panda14:

I first encountered perl in the early 90's, but I didn't like it. As a programming language, I found it ugly, and I couldn't find a reason to start programming in it unless I was paid to do so. What turned me around? When I started automating things in *nix, I would use bash, and I find bash scripting obtuse and annoying. On Windows, I found batch files very limiting. So I first started using perl as a more portable batch/scripting language. Then CPAN started giving me gems like DBI, Spreadsheet::*Excel, and Net::FTP. So many jobs just got quite a bit easier.

Right now, I can do many tasks pretty quickly in Perl that would take longer in a different language. So for one-off jobs, Perl is usually the first thing I reach for. Our company doesn't use a whole lot of perl (only on the Linux boxes, AFAIK, but I don't get to do any Linux stuff here). On the Windows boxes, I have to settle for Java or C#. But on my desktop machine, I primarily use Perl for testing, data analysis, etc.

...roboticus

When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.