a sample opinon of PHP vs. Perl:
"A Digression About PHP vs. Perl
I am recommending that you use PHP for your first project. It is a much more accessible, though less powerful, language than Perl. Sure, in the end you?ll probably need some Perl skills and to cut some Perl code but get your feet wet with PHP first.
There are also some great portal style products written in PHP that you can use as a base for your own site, but more on that later."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...de.heading.003
if PHP = less powerful, then i'm going with Perl. (i only have experience in Perl as of yet.)