Perl is simply a tool. I still use it all the time for small scripts and automation.
I know Python, Go, C#, and a bunch more....but I reach for Perl when the task calls for processing lots of text, or quick automation. Others might reach for Python or Ruby or Go.
For me it's a better bash script, a better grep, a better awk, a better sed. That's what Perl was designed to be, and I don't think any other scripting language matches it for that purpose.
It is not a tool to build desktop applications or the first choice for web applications in 2021.
But it is still extremely useful for its niche...processing data/logs/text, or system administration tasks. It really shines there and that's how I use it.
It's another tool in my toolbox, and learning Perl has made me more productive and I still reach for it today.
The tool analogy is flawed. Languages that move fast and break backward compatibility are tools, but organic. If you leave them in your toolbox for too long they start to rot.
This does not apply to those languages that do not get updated (bash?) and that does not break backwards compatibility (perl? but without CPAN modules). I know that my PHP tool has rotted even though I was actively using it. It moves too fast and the frameworks I was using are no longer any popular - should've learned symfony instead of yii, now laravel is taking over
I know Python, Go, C#, and a bunch more....but I reach for Perl when the task calls for processing lots of text, or quick automation. Others might reach for Python or Ruby or Go.
For me it's a better bash script, a better grep, a better awk, a better sed. That's what Perl was designed to be, and I don't think any other scripting language matches it for that purpose.
It is not a tool to build desktop applications or the first choice for web applications in 2021.
But it is still extremely useful for its niche...processing data/logs/text, or system administration tasks. It really shines there and that's how I use it.
It's another tool in my toolbox, and learning Perl has made me more productive and I still reach for it today.