I think he is arguing that higher-order functions are more difficult to learn/use than first-order functions because they require higher-order reasoning. That's

I think he is arguing that higher-order functions are more difficult to learn/use than first-order functions because they require higher-order reasoning. That's not to say that they aren't useful or that beginners can't learn them, but just that they impose an overhead and it's worth exploring alternative methods of reducing complexity that may end up having a lower overhead. > ...once you master them... Arguments of this sort tend to assume that a) the learning time can always be written off and b) that once you master a tool there are no more overheads. a) is false in the case where the learning time is too long or simply not available eg Joe Accountant may benefit from learning to program but he doesn't have the time to spend years learning. b) is false in the case where the abstraction is harder to reason about or makes debugging harder. There is certainly an economic decision to be made here but it must consider opportunity cost, cognitive overhead and maintenance overhead as well. That decision doesn't always favour the slow-to-master tool. It's like extolling the virtues of investing in an industrial nailgun to someone who is just trying to hang a photo. Sure, the nailgun will make driving in nails faster but the investment won't pay off for them.