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Lists like this tend to be a bit overwhelming without context, because a definition can often seem to focus on things that don't make sense if you don't understand the use case, even if you understand the words.

Even if you've read the definition of functor first

> Lifting is when you take a value and put it into an object like a functor. If you lift a function into an Applicative Functor then you can make it work on values that are also in that functor.

Is a pretty rough sentence for someone not familiar. I think Elm does a pretty good job of exposing functional features without falling into using these terms for them, and by simplifying it all.

It does pay for that in terms of missing a lot of the more powerful functional features in the name of keeping it simple, but I do think it makes it a great entry-point to get the basics, especially with how good the errors are, which is very valuable when you are learning.

I know it's a controversial language on HN to some extent (I certainly have my own issues with it shakes fist at CSS custom properties issue), but I genuinely think it's a great inroad to functional programming.