But let’s think about it.
I feel pretty confident that most people on this website are capable of learning the core 2400 Chinese characters in a year if they spent a few hours a day and that’s literally a foreign notation. A lot of people learn new languages all the time.
Kids who don’t want to learn calculus, learn calculus every day. The notation isn’t just awkward, the concepts are too. Yet they learn it.
What we’re talking about is a small notation. It’s a handful of symbols. They work predictably and consistently and the people learning it are usually familiar with the subject on some level.
It’s off-putting because it appears foreign, but the concepts and actual mechanics are already familiar with most of these readers. They just need a Rosetta Stone to help get past the initial awkwardness.
When you look at it from that perspective, it is kind of insulting use a hyperbolic word like insurmountable to a group of programmers.
Many chose not to learn it because they don’t want to be bother or don’t see the value investing their time.
Throwing words like insurmountable around seems like it breeds learned helplessness.