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I don't mean to sound elitist, but in a way, Haskell's difficulty is kind of the point of the language.

The thing that's so elegant about Haskell is that it allows you to express programmatic constructs at a very abstract level. Abstraction is almost by definition difficult to grasp. That's why it takes a decade and a half for (most) people to go from arithmetic to calculus.

Difficulty is most certainly not the point. Abstraction, composability, yes, but difficulty is a language smell that CAN be fixed. (I love Haskell and it's my primary langauge, so this comes from a place of love).

On the other hand, the language is already 35 years old and people still use it! Many other languages have died in the meantime.

What kind of argument is that? Java is 31, Python 35 years old, and Lisp is almost 70. They all still being used. Come on, let's find something real to talk about.

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