If anyone wants to develop Perl applications, a good IDE is OptiPerl. This is one of the best editors I've seen. You can make CGI scripts and test them off line (you see the output on an HTML page), contains color coding, query editor, script output screen (for console programs), regular expression tester and much more. I used this for a server I wrote in Perl and it worked great.

http://www.xarka.com/optiperl/features.html

well, i think i've just answered my own question, but... if 1 had a choice to either pickup C++ 1st or Perl, what would be the best lang 2 go w/ (actually, my orig ? was an either/or scenario, not a 1st vs 2nd scenario; w/an either/or scenario, i'm guessing that C++ would be better since its relavent to soooo many technologies)?

actually... i would recommend you start with C, then perl, and then C++.. in that order, then you can go back and work with perl as object oriented, as you can do that.. but learn c first.. if you know all three.. you'll be a much better programmer.. of course.. if you've never programmed anything.. learn pascal first.. its readable.. easy to learn.. then go to c, then perl, then c++..

or you could just hire someone else to do your coding..

I definitely don't recommend you start out with Perl. If you want to get a mild understanding of programming I recommend you do QBASIC. If you want a deeper understanding of overall topics of programming, definitely go with C++. C++ has a strong foundation in object orientation plus builds on a lot of what C already has. C is still considered more lower level than C++ so it's more preferably used to build low level applications such as 3D engines and kernels. This isn't saying that C++ isn't powerful, it is. Oh yes, very. I just think that C++ would be a good choice to start, because, although it might be harder to start off rather than QBASIC or Pascal, you start out with a good foundation that's found in all programming languages.

KNALB & incissor - i thought Pascal & QBASIC were pretty much obsolete languages - but if theyre solid building blocks...

incissor - no sense picking up either of those and C, just going directly to C++?

Well I mentioned QBASIC and Pascal just because they deal with good principles of programming - principles that you'll find in other languages. By themselves, they are now obsolete, other than learning/academic purposes. Their syntax has been carried out in other popular languages such as Visual Basic(QBASIC) and Delphi(Pascal).

I think you should just go directly to C++. C++ contains principles that are found in pretty much all programming languages. A lot of other languages tend to follow its syntax, so I highly recommend it.

thanx 4 the 411 incissor & knalb, much appreciated!

LOL! You spelled "inscissor" wrong. =) I know it sounds and looks a lot like the word "incisor," but it's spelled "inscissor." Hehe... or you could just call me Dan...

LOL! sorry Dan, i'll get ur nick right from now on! :-X i'm draggin a bit & hitting to msg boards @ once when i barely have the marbles 4 just 1 right now - but this is what i do to unwind from a days work b4 hittin the sack!!!

Just teasing you. I can only tell you how many times people make the same mistake.. lol!