[mumblemumble]

I'm guessing it's because most people spend very nearly their entire careers nestled comfortably within a single programming language family. So one maybe gets used to the idea that one should be able to decipher an unfamiliar programming language just by reading it carefully, without needing to do any background study first.

It's most pronounced with lisp and ml-style languages, but I've also seen Java lifers bounce off of things as innocuous as Python's list comprehensions.

[FartyMcFarter]

Prolog can also be pretty mind-bending at first, for people used to imperative programming.

[mumblemumble]

But it's such an enjoyable mind-bend.

I get a little bit wistful when I see people bouncing off of exotic languages. Where's the delight in a chance to discover something new, and the excitement of a new thing to wrap one's mind around? It makes me wonder if some magic has been lost, or isn't being passed along like it should be.