yes because I can write Perl that will make your eyes burn. So can Larry Wall.. So What..
How does that work towards the longer term goal of writing code that I can DIE and it still lives on?
If nobody understands it then it will die... If they understand it they can maintain it, give it loving care and feeding and it will live for a long time.
No kidding, I have code that has been in production for 27 years.. still.. think about that..
Chances are I will leave this planet and my code will still be running somewhere...
Can you say that? And if not, why isn't that your goal?
We write code to solve problems for people, not to prove how smart we are. I would argue code that lasts decades is much smarter then 10 lines of something nobody understands and gets whacked on the next refactor.. But then again that's just my style.. :)