I've always thought that if you learn one programming language, you can probably pick up any other language quite easily, except for APL/J/K.

Many claim that Haskell is easiest to learn as a first language.

I don't know Haskell, but from what I've seen, it doesn't look like a beginner-friendly language. I think Python is the undisputed king of introductory languages.

It means that the easiest time to learn Haskell is as a first language, not that it's the easiest of all first languages!

Ohh I see. That makes sense!

The strange syntax of Haskell is what's turning me off from learning it. With Lisp, the syntax was strange still, sure, but it wasn't confusing, it made sense. I feel like I can't even get in to reading Haskell or even OCaml.

However if Haskell had macros (like Perl 6's or even Lisp's), I'd jump ship from Lisp quite quickly. It's a mature language with the libraries I want.

> if Haskell had macros

What are you wanting that's missing from Template Haskell?

Or even lazy evaluation.

I think implementing lazy evaluation is a common use case of macros in languages that don't support it otherwise, but there are plenty of other uses (some questionable on balance, but all with their upsides).

Perl6 can be written as beautifully as any language, but can also be written to look similar to APL (more so than P5), but obviously not as terse as APL.