This is the first time I have read about Perl. What do IT people use it for? can anybody tell me what are it's uses? Is it like Java also?

Perl, sometimes referred to as Practical Extraction and Reporting Language,which can be used for a large vairety of task like system adminstration webdevleopoment,network prgramming,GUI development

Perl is an interpreted language not complied language, Thus, the execution of a Perl script tends to use more CPU time than a corresponding C program, for instance. On the other hand, computers tend to get faster and faster, and writing something in Perl instead of C tends to save your time.

Thanks
Ragav

General Introduction about Perl:
Perl is a general-purpose programming language originally developed for text manipulation and now used for a wide range of tasks including system administration, web development, network programming, GUI development, and more.

The language is intended to be practical (easy to use, efficient, complete) rather than beautiful (tiny, elegant, minimal). Its major features include support for multiple programming paradigms (procedural, object-oriented, and functional styles), automatic memory management, built-in support for text processing, and a large collection of third-party modules.

Perl is procedural in nature, with variables, expressions, assignment statements, brace-delimited code blocks, control structures, and subroutines.

Most Common Uses of Perl:
1. Guestbook
2. Counters
3. Feedback forms
4. Custom homepages
5. Login and passwords
6. Message boards and many more..

Perl Vs. Java:

Clear comparison can be found in the below mentioned site link.
Python vs. Perl vs. Java vs. C++ Runtimes

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G.A.P