I don’t think investing in it is wise when you can invest in something more relevant. Although there’s barely anything that covers the subj as much as Perl, which is a shame on us all. A programming language that requires an import or two to dig through a file is degenerate. Old languages understood well what a programmer needs.
The "creation" part is key. Perl is a tool for "easy creation", for creators that want to be more productive. This is what Larry Wall wanted.
This is why Perl is good for prototyping. You "create" the prototype, and then you "translate" it to something else.
Perl is quite relevant for me, but I say this as a creator.
- "Programming is (should be) fun!", by Gerald Jay Sussman. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2MYzvQ1v8Ww
- "On Writing", by Stephen King. Just the chapter "Toolbox".
For example, I can easily imagine something like this:
import 'use-perl'
while (await ls_lr('./*.txt')) {
while (await read_lines($filename)) {
print($ln, $line)
If I am in charge of those decisions, I can use Perl to build a prototype, to validate the solution I am creating.
But if I don't decide anything, my job is to code whatever. No chance for me to be creative.
Most quirks of Perl are there to make the construction of prototypes easier and faster.