FreeBasic is probably easier to use. And it seems to be a lot easier to get expert help with the code. But is not an actively supported language. Perl is. It is also an extremely powerful language with regard to all of the things it can do. However, I have been told that professional programmers often prefer a more structured language such as Python or one of the C family languages.

One reason for my selecting Perl years ago is because it is widely used as a CGI language. So, if you learn PC Perl programming then CGI Perl programming should be fairly similar.