Well I used to think that UTF-8 symbols are terrible, until I saw how Julia implement it

Most special symbols have escapable names so for example Julia have a composition operator (∘) In the repl or supported editors (atom and vs code), if you type \circ then press <tab> the repl or the editor will replace that with the symbol ∘

Now, I am not saying that this is better than ascii characters, I still prefer ascii characters, and I still find that Unicode symbol even with good editor support are harder to type, and also in some case like in the case this composition operator ∘ hard to read

I just don't think its not terrible anymore, its passable, and I understand why some people might like it more, but good editor support is a must