I played with Perl a bit for about 2 weeks. I thought it was great! It was my first programming experience since BASIC programming in high school, so that could be the reason. I don't have any knowledge of PHP, or any of the others for that matter, but I can tell you this, I will pick up where I left off as soon as I get the chance. I was using Perl: A Beginner's Guide, and it's a great book for newbies. I can't remember the author/publisher. I would like to be able to use it for its scripting capabilities among other things. Good luck!