Perl's decline was cultural

>>todsac+(OP)
In fairness, Perl died because it was just not a good language compared to others that popped up after its peak. Sometimes people just move to the better option.

>>mmastr+53
There was so much complexity hidden behind "do what I mean". For example, scalar vs array context which was super subtle:

  my @var = @array  # copy the array
  my $var = @array  # return the count of elements in array

>>athert+g4
Or even worse:

  my($f) = `fortune`; # assigns first line of output to $f.
  my $f = `fortune`; # assign all output to $f.

Which allegedly got a HS kid in hot water[^1].

[^1]: "It's all about context" (2001): https://archive.ph/IB2kR (http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/UnixReview/col38.html)

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