[cageface]

So I say that even a notoriously difficult language like Haskell is only difficult because you haven’t learned it yet.

Can't say I agree with this. Haskell embodies a lot of fairly advanced and much more formally rigorous concepts than most programming languages. It may be that there's a corresponding payoff in concision or correctness but Haskell has this reputation for a reason.

[lurker19]

Not just rigor. Haskell is very difficult to debug performance issues of, and is hard to use when manage changing state.

Haskell shines when used to manage a sophisticated computation of a static result, not a constantly changing dataset.

Haskell is a great way to learn stateless pure programming style, since it forces a lot of discipline. Haskell makes you a better Java/Lisp/Python/C programmer. (Except that it will make you write inefficient Java if you get too accustomed to the idioms that are efficient Haskell)

[kitsune_]

For most people it will probably be much harder to grock than Java, I fully agree.

By the way, I think the linked article was rather mundane. Many programming articles and blog posts seem to moot fairly uninteresting problems and are littered with empty catch phrases and notions. They remind me of books about the latest management techniques. What is the point of an article like this? I feel like I've gained nothing from reading it.

There is no discussion about the meaning or definition of the term "elite". If you consider that "elite", in the realm of sociology, describes the aggregation of people of above-average qualification within a certain functional context ("performance elite"), the term will often be used to describe the tools and techniques these elites use to achieve and maintain their status.

Elites, like many social groups, find means to separate themselves from other groups, they create informal habits and rituals, formulate means for the establishment of their group identity and so on.