Editing Portal:Perl History (section)

=== Community and culture ===

Perl’s history is inseparable from its community. Mailing lists, Usenet groups, IRC channels, CPAN authors, PerlMonks, Perl Mongers groups, and conferences all helped shape the language’s direction. Perl culture valued working code, humor, documentation, portability, and generosity toward other programmers.

'''Perl Mongers''' became the name for local Perl user groups around the world. The Perl Mongers website describes these groups as local communities that usually meet periodically to discuss Perl and related topics, often with an informal and social element.<ref>Perl Mongers, “What are Perl Mongers?” https://www.pm.org/, accessed July 3, 2026.</ref>

'''PerlMonks''' became one of the best-known online Perl discussion communities. It provided a place for questions, answers, code examples, tutorials, and social interaction among Perl programmers.<ref>PerlMonks, https://www.perlmonks.org/, accessed July 3, 2026.</ref>

Conferences such as Yet Another Perl Conference, later known in North America as The Perl Conference and The Perl and Raku Conference, gave developers a place to share technical work and sustain personal connections. Perl’s annual and regional gatherings became important not only for language development but also for mentoring, employment, project collaboration, and community identity.

The Perl and Raku Foundation, formerly The Perl Foundation, developed as a nonprofit organization supporting grants, conferences, community infrastructure, and related activities for the Perl and Raku ecosystems. Its website describes activities including grants, events, conferences, workshops, and hackathons.<ref>The Perl and Raku Foundation, “About The Perl & Raku Foundation,” https://perlfoundation.org/about.html, accessed July 3, 2026.</ref>