where i work, i'm the only person who uses perl. (i even get some of those strange looks ... ). i've adopted the strategy of documenting internally to the point that sometimes i think my code most resembles that in a tutorial. i suspect that my context is more like the real world than many, my rationale is that if someone else were to be forced to take responsibility for what i've done, i want them to be able to do so almost without knowing the language.

i think that ultimately the nature of the organizational environment might be the prime determinant. if your work would ultimately be maintained by perl cognisceti, your requirements are likely going to be different than if it were to be handed to a vb programmer.