Re (tilly) 2: Choose the most powerful language

[tilly]

Note that the intrinsic powerfulness of a language is only a partial order. However let me reinforce the point by showing you one way in which Python (which you are learning) is more powerful than Perl.

Write code to sort an array of arrays in the most natural way that makes sense in each language and gives some sensible result. Now modify your code to take into account that the third entry in each array is an array.

Why was that easier in Python, and why did the Python answer do a better job of anticipating your future needs? What connection does this have with the usual syntax complaints about Perl?

There are other things that Perl does better than Python. This is not meant to be Python advocacy. But as you learn languages, I think it is a very valuable exercise to try and notice details like that.