I have no idea how to configure vscode, but stack is really simple. This will get you started.

  stack new my-project
  cd my-project
  stack ghci 
  > main

http://seanhess.github.io/2015/08/04/practical-haskell-getti...

Haskell’s community evolved very differently from JS and the rest of open source. What seems simple to many isn’t necessarily what seems simple to the rest of us. Much of what this community considers simplicity is just convention and familiarity.

But so many people from our world are using it now that things are slowly becoming more “intuitive”!

I understand your frustration. It took me a lot of effort to get over the learning curve. Well worth it. But trust me, it’s easier than ever and getting better