[dllthomas]

"singular composite of expressions" - this doesn't mean a lot, and doesn't really fit, I think

Actually, while the presentation here was perhaps overstated, I think there is an issue here. The fact is that other languages split things into expressions and statements, such that the combinations of these things is more limited. This has a downside, in that you are not as free to cut things in the way that best fits your domain or your solution. But it has an upside in that where you cut becomes more obvious, and learning the appropriate size for chunks (particularly as you come back and repeatedly modify the same pieces of code) is an additional thing one needs to learn in Haskell that isn't entirely obvious (at least, it wasn't for me, and I feel I could still do much better than I do).

[coolsunglasses]

I think you've got a point there that can be reinforced by looking at the ratio of Haskellers vs. those comfortable with splitting things out to (.) or (>=>)

Critically, however, one does not need to be good at abstracting out code in Haskell to be happy and productive using Haskell.

We need to be careful not to move on the goalposts on our beginners, it's deeply unfair and frustrating if we make them think they can't do anything at all until they can do it perfectly.

[dllthomas]

I think I agree with all of that.