If "clever" is often necessary to avoid things like conflating concerns or introducing dependencies, I think this points us in the direction we need to take in

If "clever" is often necessary to avoid things like conflating concerns or introducing dependencies, I think this points us in the direction we need to take in improving programming languages. I agree!!!! As a rough rule of thumb, "horizontal" or "general purpose" libraries are a potential source of inspiration for language improvements. In my own case, I think #andand is a terrible kludge. But if I were designing a new programming language, one question I would ask myself is, "How do I make this go away?" I might add support for monads, Or maybe I would decide that null is a bad idea. I don't know, but I would certainly give it some thought.