As both a long time Perl and long time Python user who has seen both used in production, here are some of my thoughts:
Perl
- Was an easy jump from bash to Perl
- Perl never felt like it "got in the way"
- was WAY too easy to write "write only code"
- that being said, I learned Java first and most people found MY Perl code to be very legible
- regexes as first class citizen were amazing
- backwards compatible is GREAT for older systems still running Perl (looking at you banks and some hedge funds)
Python
- Forced indentation made it MUCH easier to read other people's code
- everything is an object from day one was much better than "bless" in Perl
- no standard way of setting up an environment for MANY years hurt
- sklearn and being taught in universities were real game changers
Perl
- Was an easy jump from bash to Perl
- Perl never felt like it "got in the way"
- was WAY too easy to write "write only code"
- that being said, I learned Java first and most people found MY Perl code to be very legible
- regexes as first class citizen were amazing
- backwards compatible is GREAT for older systems still running Perl (looking at you banks and some hedge funds)
Python
- Forced indentation made it MUCH easier to read other people's code
- everything is an object from day one was much better than "bless" in Perl
- no standard way of setting up an environment for MANY years hurt
- sklearn and being taught in universities were real game changers