[willtim]

> the phrase "avoid success at all cost" in a certain context which may have had some role in making Haskell seem Ivory Towerish.

This phrase is often misunderstood, it's "avoid, success at all costs", not "avoid success, at all costs". In other words, don't optimise for mass market adoption at the expense of everything else. Languages that have arguably done so, have ended up as extremely complex and ridden with corner cases.

[tux3]

The phrase is often taken as having a single true meaning, but I think the sum of them is really what makes the quote so good.

It's easy to follow a rule too far and end up way overcorrecting the original problem. What I like is that both meanings balance each other :)

Some popular mass-market friendly deliverables don't cost very much at all, avoid them and you're definitely avoiding success at all costs, but with both meanings at once this time.