Perl on Mac OS
Mac OS X, being mostly compatible with UNIX can, easily run Perl 5, as compiled and installed from the source. Mac OS Classic requires MacPerl, which I never worked with. Mac OS X is still highly recommended from the aspect of running Perl or otherwise.
Note! Do not use the system perl!
It is important not to use the system perl on Mac OS X, because messing with it can break your system in subtle ways. Instead, install a version of perl from sources using perlbrew.