I take it you intended your title to be "Perl is write-only!"? In any case, as far as I'm concerned the same can be said for pretty much any other language. I've seen lots and lots of code in lots and lots of languages that immidiately caused me to think "good Lord, what on earth is this?"(in slightly less appropriate terms). Ever notice how it's always the people that don't even know Perl that complain about this phenomenon?