Perl, short for "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language".
It was initially designed for text manipulation and reporting but has since evolved into a general-purpose language suitable for a wide range of tasks, from system administration to web development, database interactions, and beyond.
Key Features of Perl
- Text Processing and Regular Expressions:
  - Perl is widely known for its strengths in text processing, particularly with regular expressions. Its syntax for regular expressions is concise and powerful, making it ideal for tasks like parsing logs, reformatting files, and data extraction.
  - Perl supports built-in regex functions, making complex text manipulation tasks easy and efficient.
- Dynamic Typing and Variable Contexts:
  - Perl uses dynamic typing, meaning variables don’t need explicit type declarations. Variables can change types on the fly, adapting to the context in which they’re used.
  - Perl also has specific variable prefixes, such as $ for scalars, @ for arrays, and % for hashes (associative arrays), which indicate the type and provide context within code.
- Cross-Platform Compatibility:
  - Perl is highly portable and works across various operating systems, including Unix, Linux, Windows, and macOS. This cross-platform compatibility makes it a versatile tool for scripts that need to run in multiple environments.
- Extensive Library and CPAN:
  - The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) is a vast repository of Perl modules contributed by the Perl community. These modules cover everything from web development (like Dancer and Mojolicious) to data processing, networking, and machine learning.
  - CPAN simplifies package management, allowing Perl programmers to install and leverage libraries for specialized tasks with ease.
- Support for Procedural and Object-Oriented Programming:
  - Perl allows a blend of both procedural (functional) and object-oriented programming styles, giving flexibility based on the complexity of the application.
  - Object-oriented Perl includes features like classes, objects, inheritance, and methods, making it suitable for large, modular applications.

Key Features of Perl

Perl is widely known for its strengths in text processing, particularly with regular expressions. Its syntax for regular expressions is concise and powerful, making it ideal for tasks like parsing logs, reformatting files, and data extraction.

Perl supports built-in regex functions, making complex text manipulation tasks easy and efficient.

Perl uses dynamic typing, meaning variables don’t need explicit type declarations. Variables can change types on the fly, adapting to the context in which they’re used.

Perl is highly portable and works across various operating systems, including Unix, Linux, Windows, and macOS. This cross-platform compatibility makes it a versatile tool for scripts that need to run in multiple environments.

The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) is a vast repository of Perl modules contributed by the Perl community. These modules cover everything from web development (like Dancer and Mojolicious) to data processing, networking, and machine learning.

CPAN simplifies package management, allowing Perl programmers to install and leverage libraries for specialized tasks with ease.

Perl allows a blend of both procedural (functional) and object-oriented programming styles, giving flexibility based on the complexity of the application.

Object-oriented Perl includes features like classes, objects, inheritance, and methods, making it suitable for large, modular applications.

Overview