Agreed, it's hard and it takes a certain type of person to be effective at it. I'd go a step further and say that tools designed to make programming "easier" or for the masses not only are a wasted effort but actually detrimental (I'm not taking about learning environments such as MIT Squeak here, that is altogether different).

We need better tools that let someone who masters programming to take their vision and realize it in production ready code as quickly as possible. This is a very different goal from "allowing a newbie to pick up a programming language in 15 minutes".

I desire master tools. Tools that I know if I invest the time to learn (whether that takes months or years) will allow me to achieve unparalleled productivity as a programmer.