Running perl

Question

I understand mac 0s X comes with perl. I'd like to start learning perl. I looked in Applications but didn't see it. Can someone please outline the steps for running perl or installing perl?"
imac G5   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

Answer 1

Ok I've learned how to find Terminal and how to direct Perl to the appropriate folder to run a script. Any ideas about what's wrong with my first script listed in the previous message? I get this message from Perl:
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 1, near "rtf1\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 1, near "mac\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 1, near "ansicpg10000\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 1, near "cocoartf824\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 2, near "fonttbl\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 2, near "f0\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 2, near "fswiss\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 3, near "red255\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 3, near "green255\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 4, near "margl1440\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 4, near "margr1440\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 4, near "vieww12820\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 4, near "viewh11120\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "viewkind0
(Missing semicolon on previous line?)
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "pard\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "tx720\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "tx1440\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "tx2160\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "tx2880\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "tx3600\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "tx4320\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "tx5040\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "tx5760\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "tx6480\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "tx7200\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "tx7920\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "tx8640\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "ql\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 5, near "qnatural\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 7, near "pardirnatural
(Missing semicolon on previous line?)
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 7, near "f0\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 7, near "fs36 \"
(Do you need to predeclare fs36?)
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 7, near "cf0 \"
(Do you need to predeclare cf0?)
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 7, near "shad\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 7, near "shadx31\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 7, near "32\"
(Missing operator before \?)
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 7, near "shadr0\"
Backslash found where operator expected at hello.pl line 7, near "shado85 \"
(Do you need to predeclare shado85?)
syntax error at hello.pl line 1, near "rtf1\"
syntax error at hello.pl line 3, near "red255\"
syntax error at hello.pl line 4, near "margl1440\"
Execution of hello.pl aborted due to compilation errors.