Jonathan Blow

This. Haskell is hard because programming is hard. Primitives in Haskell as a side effect (pun) also teach concepts like managing state, which usually takes years to develop. Path of least resistance in Haskell is managed state. Path of least resistance in Imp. is global state.

Just like most bad things in CS, this line of thinking starts with an idea that is true, but then extrapolates it waaaaay beyond the place where it is beneficial into a realm of total lose.

But, manipulating global state is how your computer actually works. Pretending that that is inherently bad will only lead you to a sad place. At the same time, yes, unnecessary global state makes things confusing. But the right amount of global state is a good idea.

But how much global state is good? I mean, you let some global state in, and before you know it, it starts taking over your whole life. It keeps making demands, asking for special treatment, setting up rules. I don't know--maybe the sad place is all we have.

I addressed this earlier in the thread. The amount of global state that is good is the amount natural to your problem. More is bad, but less is also bad. Pretending not to need state, when you really do, is just obfuscating your program.