>A Haskell programmer unfamiliar with APL looks at an APL program and...
And says "what's the big deal?". That's exactly the question, what is the big deal. APL isn't scary, I'm not shouting "I can't make sense of this", I am asking "how is this better than haskell in the same way haskell is better than java?".
I'm not imagined, I am real. I know you were restating the analogy, the problem is that the analogy is wrong. I can't find anything about APL that a haskell developer would find new or interesting or frightening or anything like that.
And says "what's the big deal?". That's exactly the question, what is the big deal. APL isn't scary, I'm not shouting "I can't make sense of this", I am asking "how is this better than haskell in the same way haskell is better than java?".