CPAN
Noun · Open Source
Definitions
The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, a long-running ecosystem for Perl modules, distributions, and related tooling. In programming culture CPAN is often cited as an early influential example of a thriving language package ecosystem.
In plain English: The package ecosystem and archive for Perl modules.
Example: "The old internal tool still depended on CPAN modules that had been stable for years, which made the migration less urgent than many newer ecosystems would have."