Even though the lack of a garbage collector is a factor, I doubt that it is the biggest reason. I was bit quite nastily by the lack of garbage collection in Pe

Even though the lack of a garbage collector is a factor, I doubt that it is the biggest reason. I was bit quite nastily by the lack of garbage collection in Perl just a couple of months into using it. However, perl proved itself as an invaluable tool for quickly trying out ideas, and I was loyal to it for at least 10 years. Perl just wasn't able to grow as strong as the alternatives did.