Perl is generally considered an interpreted language. However, this is not truly accurate. Before being executed, your script is compiled into an internal format-just like Java's byte-codes or Pascal's p-code. While Perl is compiling your program, it also checks for syntax errors. This is why syntax errors are also called compile-time errors.
Fixing syntax errors is a matter of reading the error message displayed by the compiler and then trying to understand which line of code generated the message and why. The next section, "Common Syntax Errors," might help. If you are uncertain which line of code really generated the error, try commenting out the likely culprits. Then, re-execute your program and look at the error messages that are produced to see if they have changed.