Well put! I was in the same boat i.e. wanting everything to be expressible in C/C++ type of syntax before i realized that it was quite the wrong way of looking

Well put! I was in the same boat i.e. wanting everything to be expressible in C/C++ type of syntax before i realized that it was quite the wrong way of looking at things and in particular; Mathematics. Mathematical Notation is fundamental while Programming Language Notation is incidental when looking at Mathematical subjects. It was merely an unwillingness to put forth effort to learn a new "shorthand conceptual language" that was holding me back. Once i learnt to read the notation and familiarized myself with it, things became much "easier and obvious".