Perl is a dynamic programming language created in 1987 by Larry Wall. Originally used for administrative tasks, it became popular for server-side scripting for web pages. The name Perl was derived from the parable of the pearl in the Gospel of Matthew. Perl 5, released in 1994, saw a massive overhaul and introduced modules. The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) opened in 1995, providing a repository for modules. Today, Perl remains a versatile and flexible language, favored by many programmers.
Perl is a dynamic programming language, created in 1987 by NASA linguist Larry Wall. It was developed as a scripting language, designed to combine the best features of C, sed and the Bourne Shell. At the time it was mainly used for administrative tasks and still sees some use in this capacity today. Over time, however, it became apparent that this language was ideal in many ways for server-side scripting for web pages, and so it grew in popularity in that field, eventually becoming one of the best server-side languages.
The name Perl was apparently derived from the parable of the pearl in the Gospel of Matthew, which says: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for beautiful pearls; who, having found a pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.’ Wall wanted a name that would evoke positive thoughts, so he chose Pearl as the name for the language, but when he discovered there was already a PEARL language, he changed the spelling. Perl’s unofficial symbol, the camel, comes from the iconic instruction manual for the language, published by O’Reilly Media, which featured a camel on the cover.
The language itself has seen a number of very distinct versions, with each version further refining the language and making it better suited to its primary purpose. Larry Wall continues to oversee the development of Perl and helps keep it in touch with its original values. It is incredibly versatile, very flexible and can be adapted to almost any situation, and as such it is a favorite of many programmers and is often humorously referred to as the “Swiss Army chainsaw” of programming languages.
The early years of the language saw a lot of development, with 1988 seeing version 2.0 and 1989 seeing version 3.0. In 1991, the first book on Perl programming, simply called the Camel Book after the logo, was released, and at the same time the working version was labeled 4.0 to indicate that as the version the book focused on. Perl 5, which saw a massive overhaul, was released in 1994 and remains the current version, although Perl 6 continues to be built on.
Version 5.0 saw a massive overhaul of the language. The interpreter itself has been rewritten and has become more efficient and streamlined. A number of critical components have been added, making the language so preferred by today’s web developers. These included references, objects and variables, which had not previously existed or existed only in a limited form. Version 5 also introduced modules, which essentially allowed Perl to be extended without rewriting the interpreter, which is why the language itself could remain virtually static for so many years after such an intense period of change.
1995 saw another key moment in language development, albeit this time from the wider community, and not from language development itself. It was in that year that the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) opened its doors, serving as a repository for modules that others had built. This meant that anyone could access Perl’s extensibility, free of charge, in an easy-to-use archive. The repository eventually grew to include more than 15,000 modules and helped make it an easy choice for developers.
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