Perl, Python and Ruby are quite similar scripting languages -- same paradigm, very similar niches. Modern Perl today is arguably in a good position for productivity (see Moose, CPAN, Best Practices book, Perl 6 getting ready for publishing, etc).
The reason we see the flame wars and hype seems to be competition; these languages fill the same niche.
Ruby looks quite nice and Python seems usable. But personally, I find the hype and language war mentality you see every time Perl etc are mentioned as distasteful. I would be embarrassed to be identified with that.
Edit: jrockway already did a good job of beating this horse to death, it seems.
Perl, Python and Ruby are quite similar scripting languages -- same paradigm, very similar niches. Modern Perl today is arguably in a good position for productivity (see Moose, CPAN, Best Practices book, Perl 6 getting ready for publishing, etc).
The reason we see the flame wars and hype seems to be competition; these languages fill the same niche.
Ruby looks quite nice and Python seems usable. But personally, I find the hype and language war mentality you see every time Perl etc are mentioned as distasteful. I would be embarrassed to be identified with that.
Edit: jrockway already did a good job of beating this horse to death, it seems.