"But I think the longevity is partly because it is available as a free download. " I'm not sure that's the correct conclusion to be drawn. I suspect the longev

"But I think the longevity is partly because it is available as a free download. " I'm not sure that's the correct conclusion to be drawn. I suspect the longevity of the book is more due to the fact that it's a perl (or rather, perl5) book. And perl5, as we all know, is now officially an eternal language, never to be supplanted with a newer version. perl6, that mythical beast, is now officially a separate language not really meant to supplant perl5. more details for the curious here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl )