I don't intend to knock Perl or C, but there's room for more languages in our tool belts. Speaking of room, one place you often can't spare much space is on smaller platforms. That's where a precision screwdriver like Forth can be handier than the proverbial Swiss Army Chainsaw that is Perl. Besides, learning more languages is fun!

That pretty much concludes the point I wanted to make, but I'll ramble a bit about Forth now for those unfamiliar with it...

Forth has in some ways the same relationship to assembly as Perl has to C. It's some abstractions and a library management system over the top of the simpler language, which performs about as well for many tasks. Think of a postfix assembly language for a stack machine which has instructions for input and output, if/then statements, a strong macro management system for extensibility, and automated memory management. You're well on your way to Forth.

Some Forth systems are interpreted while others are compiled. Some are interpreted at the top level but compile their library entries. All tend to be very easy on program storage and working memory. Some are native systems for general-purpose platforms (PFE, bigForth, ForthCMP, SwiftForth), some are embedded in other code as extensions (FICL, Misty Beach Forth), and some are cross-compilers for everything from 8-bit microcontrollers to embedded servers. There are even Forth-native multi-core processors. There are several LGPL, GPL, and otherwise open licenses among the Forth systems, including the official GNU Forth, GForth. Some are commercial products, some are free for noncommercial use, and at least one (pForth) is public domain.

As far as expressive power, Forth has it. This web server, these Sieves of Eratosthenes and many other projects can show. It's not always as expressive as Perl, but in some cases it's more expressive. It's often more expressive than C.

The great thing about Forth is you can use it on pretty much every platform. The roughest thing about Forth may be that there are so many mutually almost compatible versions out there. So much for a committee-approved language standard being the way to ultimate portability, as Forth has one and Perl doesn't. However, there are fairly simple ways to get most source code for one Forth that doesn't include inline assembly to work on most other Forth systems.

Some Forths have built-in TCP/IP and concurrency while others need libraries. Some have built-in access to C structs and can even call methods in C dynamic and static libraries natively, while others need libraries to do those things. There are libraries for Forth to do numerical analysis and scientific computing which are ported from Fortran. It can do desktop applications, audio, video, and more. It's most often used in embedded systems, from kitchen appliances to space programs.

Perl is great and C is, too. If you're ever looking to learn a new language, though, Forth is interesting. It's quite simple once you're accustomed to postfix syntax. It's powerful for its simplicity. Programs written in it can be small, efficient in memory and CPU use, and somewhat portable. In many cases, a Forth program is smaller on disk and in memory than a comparable C program.

I still have a hard time calling 32 megabytes of RAM "constrained" for an embedded system, although OTOH I realize that with a full OS it's actually more of a low-spec general-purpose server than truly "embedded". No matter why memory is a concern, though, you might want to check out Forth.