Perl Platforms
perl 5 (the most common implementation of the Perl language) was made very portable and can run on almost any platform imaginable. (here's an exhaustive list). Perl, however, started on UNIX platforms and still reflects the UNIX culture to a large extent.
Mac OS (PowerPC, Intel, etc.)
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 much more preferable from the aspect of running Perl or otherwise.
Microsoft Windows
Perl can easily run on Windows and makes for a powerful and free language for programming and scripting there. Complete beginners should probably start by downloading Strawberry Perl and experimenting with it.
perl for Windows, is mostly compatible with Perl for UNIX, so scripts and modules written on one platform will run on the other.
UNIX Flavours (Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, etc.)
Perl originated from UNIX, runs on most UNIX flavours and UNIX-clones (both open-source and non-open-source ones). A port or package of the Perl 5 implementation is normally available from the distributor of the operating system or the distribution.
