I wouldn't say that Python is "quite" new compared to Perl. Larry released Perl on Usenet in December 1987, Guido released Python on Usenet in February 1991, just over three years later. Just over three years ago, Perl 5.8.0 was released, so you could say that Python is now where Perl was when 5.8.0 was released. MTOWTDI hasn't developped in Perl since 5.8.0. In fact, Perl has hardly changed since 5.8.0. And in five years, Python will be where Perl will be in 2 years. So, yes, Python is newer than Perl, but not so much that you can say than Perl has matured, and Python hasn't.