History of Computers - Perl
Perl
page written by Eric Wang
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 2. Overview 3. Significance
Introduction
Perl is a computer language developed by Larry Wall in 1987 who was working for NASA as a systems administrator at the time. Perl continues to be updated as of 2018, however seems to be losing popularity to programs such as Python. From the late 1990's-early 2000's was Perl's peak, but it could still be argued that it remains one of the most common computer languages. The most common association with Perl is a camel originally published in Programming Perl by O'Reilly Media. Perl has the unofficial acronym of Practical Extraction and Report Language.
Overview
The two languages in the Perl family as of now are Perl 5 and Perl 6. They are considered to be sister languages but Perl 6 has its own unique development team. Perl is known for being a powerful and flexible computer language dubbed the “Swiss Army Chainsaw,” of scripting languages. Perl was dubbed this nickname due to its power, flexibility, and ugliness. It’s flexibility has attributed to its motto, “There’s more than one way to do it.” Perl’s is a high-level language and its code is often used as “duct tape,” for other codes on the web and is known as the “duct tape of the internet.” Perl programs are called Perl scripts and due to the fact that the creator, Larry Wall, was a linguist, many see Perl's code as relating to the field of linguistics. It almost seems like a natural language. Perl is also used for many other reasons such as CGI animation, GUI development, web development, system management, network programming, and more. The Perl programming language is managed by The Perl Foundation. There is a Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, or CPAN, that contains over 25,000 pieces of Perl software. Perl continues to have a sizable following after almost 3 decades. You can find communities of Perl users at [Perl.org], [blogs.perl.org], [perlmonks.com], [1], and [perlsphere.net]. Perl uses features from other computer languages such as C, awk, sed, sh, BASIC, and others.
Significance
Perl is a computer language that has been used for numerous programs and software across the world. Perl has been one of the most popular computer languages and has contributed greatly to the world of computers in the programs written using Perl.
Refrences
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl
https://www.fastcompany.com/3026446/the-fall-of-perl-the-webs-most-promising-language
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/perl/perl_introduction.htm
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/31/perl_most_hated_language/
