Listing features is a bad way to choose a language[1].<p>Program something in it, and if you get a good feeling, then probably a lot of other people will too, and the language will take off.<p>Larry Wall is a linguist, and I think that is probably what sets perl apart more than anything.<p>But yes, it happens to have the kitchen sink, too.<p>[1] Unless you have hard requirements, like control over memory or runtime environment.