how did perl gain a reputation for being a write-only language
Write-only language Languages that are often derided as write-only include APL, Dynamic debugging technique (DDT), Perl,[3] Forth, Haskell, Text Editor and Corrector (TECO),[4] Mathematica and regular expression syntax used in various languages. Attributes that these languages have in common include a large set of operators and a syntax which encourages, or at least permits, the writing of very dense code. Some also have syntaxes which are very different from other languages, and some use different characters sets. The code below for example is Conway's Game of Life as written in APL2:[5]
Medieval literature Since Latin was the language of the Roman Catholic Church, which dominated Western and Central Europe, and since the Church was virtually the only source of education, Latin was a common language for medieval writings, even in some parts of Europe that were never Romanized. However, in Eastern Europe, the influence of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church made Greek and Old Church Slavonic the dominant written languages.