Those who've been around long enough know that the use of programming languages was almost a religion a few years ago. For example, the .NET community made no secret of being a sect that branded other technologies as the devil's work. Admittedly, the Llama book was also considered a bible.
Until 20 years ago, Perl was regarded as an elite technology that one could boast about even barely mastering. Getting started with Perl was and still is tough and requires motivation. The reward for building Perl skills often comes years later when you calmly realize that even 10-year-old scripts still perform their duties perfectly - despite multiple system environment updates. Generally, even unoptimized Perl programs run more efficiently than new developments with technologies sold to us as the "hot shit."
One of Perl's top application areas is high-performance and robust web applications in mod_perl/2. To my knowledge, there's no comparable flexible programming language that can interact so closely with the web server and intervene in every layer of the delivery process. The language is mature, balanced, and the syntax is always consistent - at least for the Perl interpreter 😉 If you go to the official mod_perl page (perl.apache.org) in 2024, it recommends a manual written over 20 years ago, and even the link no longer works.
As a Perl enthusiast from the get-go and a full-stack developer, I feel today that - albeit reluctantly - I need to consider a technology switch. Currently, I'm still developing with mod_perl/2 and Perl Mason. As long as I'm working on interface projects, I'm always ahead of the game and can deliver everything in record time. However, when it comes to freelance projects or a new job, it's almost hopeless to bring in Perl experience, especially in Europe.
Throughout my career, I've also used other technologies such as Java Struts, PHP, C/C++, Visual Basic .NET, and I'd better not mention COBOL-85. I've always come back to Perl because of its stability. But I'm noticing that the language is effectively dead and hardly receives any updates or is talked about much. If I were forced to make a technology switch for developing full-stack applications, I would switch to React or Django. It's a shame.
submitted by /u/a430
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