Scripting languages are the hot technology today for application and Web development -- no longer the backwater afterthought of the early days running in a pokey interpreter. Nor are scripting languages any longer merely the tool used for quick-and-dirty patching (someone once called Perl the duct tape of the Internet , and it stuck so well that Perl lovers wear the label proudly). No, today, scripting languages are popular for "real" programming work.