[garethrowlands]

Yes and you tend to use ^. in Haskell where you'd use . in python, say. And . is also an operator. Similarly, you'd likely be using = in python where you'd use .~ in python. As for ^.., I'm not sure there's an idiomatic python equivalent - certainly nothing as simple as adding an extra . to the operator.

[klntsky]

They are in fact well structured and not random at all. Take a look at this:

https://github.com/ekmett/lens/wiki/Operators