I couldn't agree more, and I really don't understand the author's argument. He refers to APL, a language that's legendary for its use of wild symbols, as "write

I couldn't agree more, and I really don't understand the author's argument. He refers to APL, a language that's legendary for its use of wild symbols, as "write only," but then seems to be complaining that newer languages aren't doing the same thing. I think Go actually gets this right: its syntax doesn't require any wacky characters, but it allows identifiers to consist of any Unicode characters classified as letters or numbers. The syntax caters to the lowest common denominator, but if I really want to name my variables in Greek, I can.