It is my understanding that the Perl compiler is actually a compiled program that is written using C++ or something like that.

It is apparently not intended for critical applications such as flying the Space Shuttle. But it can be quite user friendly and powerful after you learn the basics.

The code is largely similar to Basic language code. And it can do a wide variety of things. I have my own copy organized to that I can develop and test new code while a Perl program is actually running. That is an important feature because my programs can at times take 10 minutes or more to load and process all of the data and store them in the proper arrays. And I don’t want to have to wait for 10 minutes each time I need to test some new code.

I also like it because you don’t have to put any dimension or declare statement at the start of the program. And subroutines can be stored anywhere and moved to other locations whenever desired. Also, if you start using an array such as $data[4][5] you don’t have to dimension it first. When you add more values to it than were originally in the array it automatically expands it without being told to do that. With many programs, once you exceed the original size of an array it might not work, or an error message will be generated, or the program will just stop running.

At the moment I am learning how to run Perl CGI programs on my PC. The next step will be to get one running at my new Web site.