I think it isn't outlined very well in the article. For the most part though I'd say it's syntax and I agree that syntax matters. Elexir is probably a lot easie

I think it isn't outlined very well in the article. For the most part though I'd say it's syntax and I agree that syntax matters. Elexir is probably a lot easier to stomach than Erlang for many people that started learning in a similar looking language. I think aesthetics matter quite a bit. If I find code strange to look at I'm never fully comfortable with it (this fades over time but I feel it pretty strongly whenever I dive into a new language). This might be silly but from experience students that are exposed to Java first (which is the most common case here) tend to struggle with JavaScript (pre ES6) just because some patterns look "odd". The Elixir devs are also fairly smart people and the community seems cool which shouldn't be underestimated. That being said I have a Prolog background so stock Erlang looks fine :D