> k always seemed like a bunch of those kids managed to become highly accomplished and brilliant engineers without ever breaking that terrible habit. Is there actually a reason to write these array languages (and interpreters for them, apparently) this way, or is it just a cultural difference?

They're more readable and less buggy that way. But unfortunately most programmers would rather spend 10 days reading 100,000 lines than 4 days reading 1,000 lines.