Except it is not cleaner. It is just more familiar to you because most languages in use in the past 40 years have been influenced by Algol family of languages f

Except it is not cleaner. It is just more familiar to you because most languages in use in the past 40 years have been influenced by Algol family of languages for their syntax. Now the author is being modest here: First, `for` is defined out of simpler function `while`. You can do the same for the for loop in C of course, but only as a function call and to pass arbitrary body you would need to use a function pointer, which I argue is overwhelmingly more confusing. You may have different opinions merits of of baking non-orthagonal features into the compiler, but surely you'll appreciate the clarity here. Second, `do` notation is not used which would make it look more like Algol family of languages with semicolons to delimit (if "statements" (really, monadic expressions) are on the same line otherwise line feed is enough.) and less `>>=` would appear. Third, giving type annotations which can always be inferred unless you are using advanced extensions such as Generalised Algebraic Data Types (GADTs), which are not used here. Also less characters do not mean cleaner. For example the `loop`'s type annotation produces a `State` monad with `Int` as the state. This means that `loop` will not be connecting the Internet, it will not be throwing an exception [0], etc. Even in the narrow effect of manipulating state it guarantees it will only simulate mutation of a single variable of type `Int`. All of that guaranteed from a single line is a remarkable manifestation of clarity. [0] I don't account for undefined and the problem of strictness, that's a discussion for another day.