As a newcomer to Perl, I have found the language to be much easier to write and read than C, C++ or Java. I program as a hobby (was in a CS program at college, but that didn't pan out). At first I couldn't grasp some of the things (like an array, @list, being used in a scalar context as $list$i, with the dollar sign). Now, after a couple of months programming, I understand and appreciate these things. They give a contextual meaning to expressions and as long as you understand the context in whuch you're using a variable, it makes perfect sense and conveys much information to the reader. I am afraid they will change Perl to make it more 'user friendly', esp. for novices, and that it will lose some of these quirks that make it so meaningful.