[7thaccount]

Just seeing this. I'm not the original poster that you replied to, but their point is somewhat valid as is yours.

Python certainly requires one to learn iterative programming which is definitely not a walk in the park. I learned it over a decade ago, but vividly recall how non-intuitive it was at the time (global versus local scope had me scratching my head once upon a time). Then there is lists, tuples, dictionaries, pass by reference, iterators, file I/O...just soo much to learn.

One interesting thing is that I used OO methods in Python for ages before understanding how to write and use classes. To me, a = list.sort() was just a weird way to read a = sort(list). You can almost write Python entirely in an imperative manner and for short scripts I almost always do.

Learning all the OO aspects of Java/C# and all the fundamentals of FP (monads, currying... etc) is much harder for me than APL which is basically just learn what these symbols do and the very straightforward way to combine them and you're done. The only harder part of APL is somehow learning to replace imperative programming with array operations. Sure it is easy to do some things like sum up an array (+/ array), but that is also easy in Python (list.sum()). The idioms as APL people call them are not at all obvious to me, nor is the path of enlightenment outside of stop talking and go write some APL haha.