dynamically created symbol -- Good Thing To Do?

I've followed this thread with interest.  I'm an experienced programmer,
and whenever I've seen this question (how to create variable names on
the fly) from Python or lisp programmers it has almost always been the
case that the inquirer was a beginner and the Right Answer was to first
explain why it was a bad idea (creating variable names at run time makes
the program extremely hard to debug because you can't read the text of
the program and even determine the space of variables, much less
determine what relationships are being violated) and then help the
inquirer solve their problem in a manageable way.

Here, however, in the context of a CAS with a programming (scripting?)
language facility, I consider myself to be a rank beginner.  So what do
the experts believe to be best practice?  Is the ability to create named
variables at run time one of the facilities that make maxima scripting
really shine, or is it a dubious practice here as well?

Thanks,

-- 
Bill Wood