- Perl, mostly, by the nature of how things are compiled live from source, is more opensource than java. You CAN decompile java, but that's just an extra step and the decompilation isn't always pretty. I'm sure B::Deparse would do the same of a loaded module, but then, you can just vi that file :)

- java is less forgiving of dependencies missing. i.e. you can't compile something that's needed by your source code. In perl, it's harder to get an error due to some bad usage of a module. Autoloader can make for fun times w/ that. :)

- the various odd perl errors you get are findable in perldiag, where as java lacks such a mechanism.

- perl's documentation comes with perl. java, not so much :)

- java is backed more by money, where as perl is backed more by community, it seems. then you can get into the entire enterpriseness of both. guh, i hate that argument.

perl is just an acronym, java is an island and coffee. tell me the name isn't just cooler :) /hides