It is scripted. would not agree that it is going out of favour with web developers. especially those concerned with security. The community is growing as new users discover its power. Over PHP The code I use for my sites is based on code developed for Barklies bank to run their atms and websites.

It is more like java than PHP for modularity and cross platform. The code runs only on the server so it is not dependent on browser incompatibility like PHP Java and Java Script. My code runs the same on a cell phone or a desktop. Only the small amount of java script I use for some menus. are an issue There are wherever security is an issue.

The main problem is the editors. They are all just syntaxual. I like the way Java editors will take you to the called module. I have to search though the code modules to find the called code. Kate is the best so far Eclipse works to a point but is not setup well for Perl. Would be nice to have the ability of Delphi to connect to databases with integrity.

It also has a rpi module and Adriano modules at cpan. Allowing one to integrate easily to IOT. No need to go to python or C.

As for $ {} I would think PHP got it from Perl. Maybe even C pick up things from Perl. Perl has been around for decades. In the early days it lost some favour because it is script rather than compiled so it was slower but now that is a minor issue.