https://medium.com/@eeue56/why-type-classes-arent-important-...

"Right now, any Elm developer can examine Elm code that another developer has written, and fully understand what is going on. I consider this a major thing that Elm has got right."

And

"Elm is targeted at the main source of users it has — Javascript developers. Javascript developers may be familiar with typeclasses, but it is less likely that they are than Haskell developers. Alternatives like Purescript provide more abstractions and powerful type systems suited to those from the Haskell community. There are many of us Haskell users who sit happily with Elm too."

Elm favors simplicity and pragmatism over academic FP lingo. You need to change your way of thinking a bit, true, but it benefits the architecture. And it'll take weeks, not years!

You will not find the words "monad" or "category theory" or "algebraic datatype" used in the Elm docs.