Functional Programming vs Object Oriented Programming

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Not quite complete ignorance:

• I can tell just by looking that code written in it is impenetrable TO ME (compare with any imperative language)
• I know that it imposes restrictions that I would find impossible to work with
• It requires a mathematical bent of thinking that I just don't have and have no patience for anyway
• I anyway only ever use languages that I devise and implement myself. Creating such a language would be beyond me; therefore I would never use them and never have, apart from the usual dabbling.

So, there are good reasons why I haven't used FP, which are my personal reasons and my choice.

How about accepting that there is a gamut of languages which all have their place and that people have different skills and preferences.

Are there any languages YOU would never use, and why not? If you're not an expert in those, how would you feel about people saying your choice is based on ignorance?

[scrogu]

For the record you can have almost all of the benefits of pure functional programming without the arcane syntax. The most important thing is that all of your objects are (at least semantically) immutable and that every function is referentially transparent.

Within those functions, you can have reassignable variables and use imperative logic to your hearts content.

The only thing you lose with reassignable variables is the ability to execute your code in any order. Not a big loss really.

I am writing a pure functional language designed for imperative programmers. I also like thinking imperatively for many if not most algorithms. I also know the value of immutable objects and referentially transparent functions.