Is PERL good for a linguist new to programming?

Hello there!

Just a small question. I'm about to start my postgraduate course in
translation and I wanted to specialise in computational linguistics.

Just wanted to know the opinion of PERL users if it makes sense to
start to learn it now. I have several ideas regarding linguistics-
related programs and wanted that language to help me create them and,
maybe in the future, write my PhD dissertation.

I've done some research and opinions about that language are heavily
polarised, namely that the syntax is cluttered, that it's a
Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister, etc. I wanted to focus on PERL
due to it's supposed text-processing capabilities, and I've also
considered going for Python but I don't want to waste time on learning
something which is not very common and useful. If I'm to spend years
on learning a language (wheter it's French, PERL, Spanish or C++) I
want to know that there are opportunities for it and there's numerous
users of that language out there.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Przemek
.

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