I would say that Perl burst on the world about 30 years ago, and that what it allowed one to do was so compelling that it spread at tremendous speed. It was out

I would say that Perl burst on the world about 30 years ago, and that what it allowed one to do was so compelling that it spread at tremendous speed. It was out there, it was in use, and any development had to avoid--as far as possible--breaking existing code. It is possible to write lucid, maintainable Perl, something I have occasionally managed. It is easy to write ugly, unmaintainable Perl, and that I have too often done. If one looks at the Perl found on CPAN or in various good books on Perl, you can see how to do the former.