I recently submitted a message suggesting that Linux use PERL as the
implementation lanugage for many of its system support programs.  The
follow-ups indicated that people aren't familiar with the abilities of
PERL.  To address specific points mentioned in the followup, PERL does
give access to essentially all of the Unix system calls, including
alarm() and listen().  There is no technical reason why PERL couldn't
be used; it is simply a question of whether people think the
philosophical change is justified by the advantages gained.

Tim