Very Good Points. I want to emphasize learning algorithms. Computer languages are tools and only tools. Perl is not the best choice or every application, but I've learned that it makes a great prototyping tool if I need develop an idea. Don't listen to language or Operating System bigots. They are giving out opinions, not facts. Best of Luck with Perl. "Let us go then, you and I. With the earth stretched out beneath the sky, like a patient etherized upon a table..." T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock