After a sabbatical from writing code I was faced with a challenge of writing a script to process some text. I could either use Perl and almost have to relearn the language from scratch (I'm sure it was designed to leak out of your head!), or try something new.

I decided to try Ruby.

Armed with only a few websites for reference (including the Pragmatic Programmers' online book) I quickly cobbled together my script in far less time than if I had used Perl. It was so much easier!

Now I will never go back to Perl and have subsequently sold my Perl books (sorry, Tim). What's more, with the free online resources I am unlikely to buy a book on Ruby.

If my experience is anything to go by, then I would suggest that the number of Perl books sold is not a good indicator of the popularity of the language; it's an indicator of how much you need to resort to books to actually use it.