Interestingly, I've had a debate with one PerlMonk about the prudence of programming safely using parenthesis or other such practices when unsure of the exact nature of the language. He then attacked me personally and pointed out how his team of crack coding buddies would not tolerate such wasteful use of text at his company, and would proceed to point out the nuances of Perl and demand that code would be written to suit.

I for one always applaud a programmer for erring on the safe side, regardless of what such cowboys have to say, or what disclaimers they may preface their opinions with.