Python and Java are often considered to be less cryptic language than Perl - which is often seen as quite cryptic.

I've always wondered about the "more cryptic" vs. "less cryptic" comments. There are clearly cryptic languages, like this little nuisance, but the rest really seems more a matter of whether or not a language is more or less compatible with an individual's way of thinking.

For example, I have good friends that are Python programmers and cannot grok Perl. To quote them, "Perl is too disorganized for me: Python works like I think." I, on the other hand, can't stand Python^{1} (all that significant whitespace, the lack of sigils, and not using braces for blocks all scare me) because Perl works exactly how I think.

That doesn't mean one is "more cryptic" than the other; rather, it just means that different programmers find different approaches and syntax to be intuitive.

1: I still use Python, and it does have some nifty things I wish were built into Perl, like the set() function(s).