You’re implying that language syntax is primarily technical rather than social. I’m not sure I can agree. The reason that Python code uses standard idioms most places you go is that the larger-scale Python community is committed to quite a different set of social norms than the Perl community.
Pulling in that language-community momentum can definitely make a difference to the social/technical dynamics inside a smaller group.
... if you have multiple developers who cannot or will not find some way to write maintainable code, you have a problem independent of language.
I've maintained some hideous code written by people who had no business being professional programmers. In every case, adhering to a handful of very simple rules would have improved their code dramatically. Only one case needed a language change, and that one was away from a proprietary 4GL.
