IDEs tend to be best when working on long programs or when a testing environment is desired. When programs are short, programmers' editors are usually adequate. Many programmers also use simple text editors (such as Notepad) for ease of use.

I write relatively few Perl scripts each year and use NoteTAB as my Perl editor.

IDEs
IDEs are typically provide graphical environments for editing code, but also including capabilities for code generation, error detection, custom formatting, API access, debugging, script testing, and much more.

Here are some of the available Perl IDEs.

Freeware:
• Collie Perl Shell
  
• Epic
  
• Komodo Edit
  
• Open Perl IDE
  
• Perl Express
  

Shareware:
• Enginsite
  
• Komodo IDE
  
• OptiPerl
  
• Perl Builder
  
• Perl Scripting Tool
  
• visiPerl+
  

Here are some of the more popular Programmers Editors available today.

Freeware:
• ConTEXT
• Crimson Editor
  
• Notepad++
• PSPad
  

Shareware:
• MultiEdit
  
• UltraEdit
  
• SlickEdit
  

Text Editors
With simple text editors, programmers forego extra features in order to get the simplest possible editing environment. Many simply fire up their OS default text editor (Notepad for Windows or VI for UNIX) to create short Perl scripts.

Others use one of these other readily available freeware text editors

• NoteTAB
  
• NotePad+
  
• Metapad
  

Editor List
In addition to the recommendations above there are literally hundreds of other editors available. If you want to see more options, take a look at my complete list of available editors.