I don't think that the C code for Perl uses the C++ STL.

Aside from that, I can see cases where it might make sense to have Perl (in some form) available on the Palm. Your comment about "Perl-like" may be right on the money; for instance, imagine a byte-code interpreter that lacks string eval (and hence the compiler and its huge tables). This could work like a cross-compiler; you'd spit out bytecodes into a .PDB file, and there could be a minimal Perl VM in a .PRC that could interpret the bytecodes.

As long as you don't use string eval (and this would rule out, for instance, having a Perl compiler or full-featured debugger that actually ran on the Palm), this might be a good way for Perl-fluent programmers to make Palm apps — when loaded with Palm-specific Perl modules so you can do something useful with the Palm databases, inter-process communication, and events.

Much as I'd like to see a real language environment that I could program on the Palm (perhaps with an attached keyboard), having a quick way to knock off Palm apps would be a real win.