You really seem to be thinking a lot like I do, but a lot more eloquently. Seeing too much wrong-headed OOP, Ruby goodness, etc. Perl takes an immense amount of skill to wield carefully, and yes -- Java -- while I really hate it's shackles, is designed to keep folks without that constant consideration of every code change, somewhat on the right track.

I guess the thing is that Perl rapidly leads to very small, tight code that is sometimes not easily extensible (i.e. brittle and weakly connected), while Java quickly leads to code that is not easily extensible (i.e. too rigid and often glued together incestously).

Ruby is a good mix, and right now, I am coding my new apps in it, but I do have hopes for Perl 6, based on what I've seen in the community. However the Ruby mailing list has some folks that think very well about OOP and other things, they know what Java does wrong, and they use it to their advantage. It just depends how much Shock and Awe perl 6 brings and when it is first released.

Folks with perl maintaince problems should immediately check out Ruby, it solves a lot, and like Ovid said most of the things I get out of CPAN are things like database modules and such, which are already available in Ruby's core. Gems covers a few loose ends of things that should be in the core. Yes, i don't know where to find an Excel module or stuff, but server-side most of the time this isn't what you are looking for with the type of programming I usually end up doing.

Bottom line -- Perl's strength is in the modules and the flexibility of the language, but it does not always offer the flexibility to make things Rigid. Ruby offers the freedom to make something as Rigid or Flexible as needed, but does need maturing in the module category, but it has enough now.