2009/1/16 Derek Elkins
I think the name issue is a red herring. The real issue is that, after being confronted by a concept with an unfamiliar name, it can be very difficult to figure out the nature of the concept. That is, it's not the name itself that's the problem, it's the fact that trying to understand what it means often leads you on an interminable Alice-in-Wonderland-esque journey that never seems to get anywhere.
I agree with interminable but certainly you go somewhere. A lot of people like Haskell for this property.
I suspect the complaint people have is that *where* you go, is into mathematics - and your interest may well be in computing, so that while the diversion is enlightening, it's not of much practical use right now.
"How do you know that a monoid action is isomorphic to a monoid homomorphism into an endomorphism monoid?"
"Well, I was trying to append two lists in Haskell..."
Precisely :-) "...and I still don't know how so I gave up and did it in Python because my boss wants the program today".
For an actual interminable Alice-in-Wonderland-esque journey that never seems to get anywhere, try to write C# programs that inter-operate with Microsoft Office.
So where do you want to go to today? :-) Paul.