Like several others in this thread, Perl was my first "real" language after POSIX Shell (I started by reading and modifying the early Frozen Bubble sources), an

Like several others in this thread, Perl was my first "real" language after POSIX Shell (I started by reading and modifying the early Frozen Bubble sources), and Programming Perl was my first programming book. That kind of introduction to programming may not be for everyone, but I believe it was instrumental in me making software my career. I had the privilege to be in the room at FOSDEM when Larry announced Perl 6 for this Christmas. I don't write much Perl those days, but I certainly am going to play with Perl 6. Even if I never write anything useful in it, there are certainly lots of ideas to be taken from that language.