The various methodologies of programming are admittedly a widely unexplored field for me. From that viewpoint - experimenting, not being fixed to one or another - I'd like to point out one outrageous strength of perl: its flexibility - TMWTDI! You can use perl the way you choose or as required by the situation. You might code in linear, orthogonal or even diagonal ways. Just another quote from the Camel: "In a nutshell, Perl is designed to make the easy jobs easy, without making the hard jobs impossible."