[hnzix]

I've worked on a 15 person team using Perl that was actually pleasant because everyone was A grade, actively did code reviews and the two seniors were A+ and would kick your ass for bad code. But most teams aren't like that so would benefit from strong typing.

[acqq]

And Perl has many aspects of strength compared with Python or Javascript. See for example:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22282080

and

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22282306

For what comes out of the box with Perl regarding undefined variables. Perl has "my" "local" and "ours" for the start but even more: the array and hash variables have by design different syntax, which helps immensely: the sigils are of real help as a kind of written "type." It's like in old Basics string variables looked different from the numeric ones, and Larry Wall acknowledged he was inspired by that. I can go on and on. Perl looks hard to the uninitiated but it can produce much more stable code, in my experience, than the "typical" scripting languages like Python and Javascript. Stable in the sense that you know it will work after it compiles, not only once you test with every possible input.

But yes, the people using it should know learn enough before they start contributing, and in a lot of places it's preferred to have people who barely know the basics of what they use (because they are "cheap" and "easily replaceable").