Actually, it depends on where one is studying. I know that at UCI, there are many individuals who are very good programmers and geneticists at the same time. I don't represent the subculture by any means, as I've just finished my undergrad and, through an internship, am now learning about a whole new field of science. Perl is my first computer language I've learned (discluding BASIC from my apple 2e days as a child), so much of this is still very new for me. Having been exposed to some of the graduate students here, I think you will find them to be quite proficient at what they do; I wish I were only half as good:-).
PS-I've got access to far more than one book on Perl. And yes, this was probably one of my more stupid questions on the forum, but sometimes these things clear up misconceptions in my mind, as the previous answers already have. TO ALL: You have my sincere thanks for your help! Hopefully I'll have more eloquent and advanced questions in the future...