I first encountered Perl as Perl 4, which certainly had the @ and $ sigils. I had been using Perl 5 for a while before using it in any web development. I think

I first encountered Perl as Perl 4, which certainly had the @ and $ sigils. I had been using Perl 5 for a while before using it in any web development. I think that Perl 6 contributed to Perl's decline much more by the long delay and certainly than by anything it had when it appeared. Edit: and Perl 4 had the % sigil.