A lot of learning curve come from them essentially being array programming languages (like APL). They are powerful, but just very different if you aren't used t

A lot of learning curve come from them essentially being array programming languages (like APL). They are powerful, but just very different if you aren't used to them before. The alternative really is to write simple imperative style scripts with for loops in your favorite scripting language. Script will be much longer and likely more prone to errors, but the learning curve for simple tasks is just a lot less steep. Eventually learning the array oriented approach is worth it though. It's the usual trade off in how much time is it worth learning a new tool vs kludging some old tool that doesn't quite fit for the task.