Presumably it gets easier with practice. But I think you have to write it, and there are some idioms and shortcuts that people use, and if you're unfamiliar with the shortcut then it can be hard to figure out.
I had a similar problem with Objective-C. Everyone was saying how easy it would be for someone who knew Java to pick up, but for the first couple of years I found the message passing syntax to be incredibly jarring. Note that I'm not stupid, of course I understand what messages are etc. It wasn't that I didn't understand the concepts, it was that the syntax of the language kept tripping my "that looks wrong" buttons.
I think that with programming languages there can be an 'uncanny valley' effect. Something that looks too close to something else but isn't quite the same. Java and JavaFX were an example of that for me. I thought they made the JavaFX too close to Java. Someone who knew Java would keep getting tripped up on the subtle (and not so subtle differences) - but because it was too close to Java you couldn't easily tell where the Java ended and the JavaFX started. You might have a class where halfway down your page of code the rules of syntax and grammar shift slightly, and then a little bit further on they shift back...
When I'm mixing two languages I find it easier if they are distinctly different, it makes the cognitive burden easier. Nobody complains about having to mix Java and SQL on the back end with HTML and Javascript on the front end for instance. There's four languages right there, and the wuss that wrote the original article thinks two is too scary for most programmers? I know most programmers are like insects to the giant intellects of those of us at HN, but even so I think he doesn't give them enough credit.
I had a similar problem with Objective-C. Everyone was saying how easy it would be for someone who knew Java to pick up, but for the first couple of years I found the message passing syntax to be incredibly jarring. Note that I'm not stupid, of course I understand what messages are etc. It wasn't that I didn't understand the concepts, it was that the syntax of the language kept tripping my "that looks wrong" buttons.
I think that with programming languages there can be an 'uncanny valley' effect. Something that looks too close to something else but isn't quite the same. Java and JavaFX were an example of that for me. I thought they made the JavaFX too close to Java. Someone who knew Java would keep getting tripped up on the subtle (and not so subtle differences) - but because it was too close to Java you couldn't easily tell where the Java ended and the JavaFX started. You might have a class where halfway down your page of code the rules of syntax and grammar shift slightly, and then a little bit further on they shift back...
When I'm mixing two languages I find it easier if they are distinctly different, it makes the cognitive burden easier. Nobody complains about having to mix Java and SQL on the back end with HTML and Javascript on the front end for instance. There's four languages right there, and the wuss that wrote the original article thinks two is too scary for most programmers? I know most programmers are like insects to the giant intellects of those of us at HN, but even so I think he doesn't give them enough credit.