>It looks fairly easy and declarative code to me.

Really?

To use a metaphor -- I guess this Finnish word-sentence looks easy enough for the people who've grown up with the language:

Isänikinköhänkään? (translated: I wonder if it was also my father -- starts with the base word isä -- father -- and builds out from there in a "declarative" way) <g>

Maybe all of this just takes (a whole lot of) getting used to, and once I get used to the pain I won't even notice it any longer.

Pertti