Originally posted by kbrown
I think the first obstacle to cross when learning MEL is the syntax. If you've programmed with C or C++ before you'll understand MEL pretty well. If not, it may seem like swahili language 
So a basic C/C++ user guide could also help newbies to learn MEL as well...
Just my $0.02.
By extension, if you've worked with Flash ActionScript or JavaScript (both very similar), then you can probably pick up MEL fairly quickly as well. Foundations in C/C++ are very helpful, but if you've scripted before, you've got the basics down for MEL.