> Words are easier to lookup than symbols. Symbols can be easy to reference when you know where to look, but unless you know what other words to stick into Goog

> Words are easier to lookup than symbols. Symbols can be easy to reference when you know where to look, but unless you know what other words to stick into Google (especially if you don't know what language a particular snippet is), ":: programming" will be utterly useless, while searching IEnumerable will return results for C# immediately. When you are new to programming, the ease of finding relevant documentation can make things a lot less ambiguous Weird because the other poster posted an APL snippet and I worked it out with a search engine without content. > You mean like Java? It's time-tested and the bulk of the developer positions in my area want Java experience. Coincidentally, it's also a common language to teach in undergrad. I've only seen functional languages listed by companies that list every language under the sun, and research positions I was there when Java started appearing in Universities. They didn't choose it because it was easier than scheme. They chose it in hopes of making it easier for graduates to find work with employers increasingly not giving a shit about training and graduates increasingly being reluctant when askedd to learn new things outside of school.