Project Perl can be considered as the answer to three wide tendencies in computer branch: falling expenses of the hardware, increasing labour expenses and refinements of technology of the compiler. Many earlier computer languages, such as the FORTRAN and C, have been developed to make an effective utilisation of expensive computer hardware. On the contrary, Perl it is developed for the purpose of an effective utilisation by leading computer programmers.



For Perl there are many features which weaken the task of the programmer for the bill more the central processing unit, demanded sizes and memory configurations. They switch on automatic control of memory; dynamic printing; sequences, lists and mashes; regular expressions; introspection and an estimation, function.


Wall originally it was trained as the linguist, therefore linguistic principles are very peculiar to project Perl. Examples switch on Huffman (the common constructions should be short), the good extra charge of the end (the important information should be on the first place) and the big collection of language primitives. Perl approves language constructions which are short and natural to people at reading and a spelling, even there where they complicate translator Perl.


Syntax Perl mirrors idea, that "things which are various, should look various". For example, scalars, sets and mashes have various leading characters. Indexes of set and keys of mashes use various sorts brackets. Sequences and regular expressions have various standard separators. This approach can be opposed with languages as Lisping where the same construction of S-expression and the main syntax are used in many various purposes.


There is a wide practical propensity and on language Perl, and on community and culture which surround it. The foreword to Programming Perl starts with a phrase "Perl - language to get your made job". One consequence of it is that Perl not tidy language. It switches on many features, suffers exceptions to its rules and uses heuristics to solve syntactic doublemeanings.


For Perl there are some mottoes which pass aspects of its project and its usage. For example, "is more than one way to make it". Another - "Perl: the Swiss Army Chain saw of Programming languages" and "Is not present any unnecessary limits". The installed purpose of project Perl consists in making easy problems lungs, and difficult tasks - possible.


There is no written specification or the standard for language Perl, and any schedules to create one standard for current version Perl. Only there was one performance of the translator. That translator together with its functional tests costs as the actual specification of language.