[kluck]

> ... it's not a great language;

Yes it is.

> it's a clusterfuck of "cleverness" which lets "clever" people implement horrifying glass cathedrals that shatter as soon as you open the door.

It is clever, so are most other languages. It lets do people do horrible stuff, as well as wonderful stuff, same as in most other languages.

The Perl code from other programmers that I usually come across is mostly using established popular CPAN modules and/or frameworks that encapsulate the "clever" parts. I think you are right in that you mostly get to see Perl code that does need help, rather than the better maintained Perl code that does exist as well.

[tmaly]

I agree it is a great language, but you need to have discipline and a coding standard to avoid the pitfalls of TIMTOWTDI