I know it may have been asked before, but here goes nothing...

Is Perl still something that would be considered useful? If someone was a new programmer (either completely new to programming or just a few month/years of experience) would Perl be something to be considered worthwhile to learn?

Is Perl still used with frequency? Is it still popular?

Or is Perl dying out compared to languages like Python, Ruby, PHP, ASP.NET, etc.?

Basically it boils down to this:


Is it still used/is it still used frequently? If yes, is it dying? If no, will it make a come back?
Is it something that would be worth learning?
How does it compare in demand to languages like Python in both popularity and usability/viability? Could languages like Python or Ruby be considered replacements for Perl?


Also, will newer versions of Perl really bring a large improvement to the Perl community, and perhaps bring Perl back to centerstage compared to other languages?

EDIT:

Okay, I suppose here's a better, reworded question:

Is Perl still growing, or is it "dying"? Is it still a language worth learning and using? What projects does it really "shine" in compared to other languages? What makes Perl a language to choose? Essentially: is Perl growing obsolete compared to other languages, and if so, do you expect that to change, or to continue?

And thank you to everyone who has answered so far, the discussion has been really interesting!

First of all, it's always better to disambiguate.


  Businesses talk about Perl 5 when talking Perl, but on a far-far
  land, beyond deep-thinking island, the design-by-committee tribe is
  still cooking a hefty slab of Perl 6 (and it's almost ready, with an
  engine written in Haskell and powered by the tears of the gods)


Ok, that said, what is Perl 5 used for, today?


legacy web systems / intrawebs - some just won't die
data mining / statistical analysis - the perl regex engine, even if slightly outdated, (PCRE, a spinned off library, tops it up in any possibile way and it's the default PHP engine) is still good for simple analysis
UNIX system administration - Perl shall always be installed on UNIX.
You can count on it being readily available even on Mac OS X.  
network prototyping - many core network experts learned Perl when it was all the 
rage; and they still do their proofs-of-concept with it.
security - many security experts, too, need fast prototyping. (and fast automated fixes) Perl can, and does, cover for that.


The extensive CPAN collection is very handy, when dealing with prototypes.
(Batteries may not be included, but they're still right there, on the shelf) 

Remember drawbacks, though:


Object support in Perl sucks hard, you bless references and do unholy stuff in the name of objects, then wonder why you took all the trouble in the first place.
Reading other people's Perl is more than a craft, it's science, and a painful one, too.
Perl is nifty, it makes you think nifty, it makes you feel nifty, you become a programming rockstar. Now, think about getting up, and going to work in a office full of rockstars: it's a "boat that rocks" hard. Expect wild fluctuations.

