In which language PERL has been developed ? What is current version ?

Hi,

Perl has the power and flexibility of a high-level programming language such as
C. In fact, as you will see, many of the features of the language are borrowed
from C.
Like shell script languages, Perl does not require a special compiler and linker to
turn the programs you write into working code. Instead, all you have to do is
write the program and tell Perl to run it. This means that Perl is ideal for
producing quick solutions to small programming problems, or for creating
prototypes to test potential solutions to larger problems.
l Perl provides all the features of the script languages sed and awk, plus features not found in either of these two languages. Perl also supports a sed-to-Perl translator and an awk-to-Perl translator.
In short, Perl is as powerful as C but as convenient as awk, sed, and shell scripts.

Current version of perl is 5.1

Regards,
Ajay Shembekar.
Software Test Consultant

where i can find material to learn and having hands on the perl language.
i want to have expertise over it but due to lack of info i am not able to get it..
is there any body who help me!!!