> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tobias Reif [mailto:tobiasreif / pinkjuice.com]
> Sent: Monday, January 14, 2002 5:04 PM
> To: ruby-talk ML
> Subject: Re: Small Methods - a ramble
>
>
> David Alan Black wrote:
>
>
> > Clarity is such a vexed thing.  I believe people who say that they
> > find Perl code clear.  (I used to find it reasonably clear -- I'm a
> > little out of the loop right now :-) I also believe people who say
> > they find it opaque, and I believe those people when they say they
> > find code in some other language clear.  (Which is to say, if a
> > non-programmer said Perl was opaque, that wouldn't "count" in the same
> > way.)  Clarity is annoyingly relative; it seems that what you find
> > clear is what you've learned to find clear, and/or perhaps are
> > cognitively predisposed to find clear.
>
>
> exactly. That's why,
>
> If there's a Perl crack, a Ruby wizard, and a programming newbie, then
> I'd value the newbies judgement about the clarity of each language the
> highest.
>
> Tobi

There is a problem with targeting the newbie.  Its a classic product design
hole that many fall into.  They put all kinds of features in a product
designed for the "new user" and it ends up overwhelming the product with
features that are rarely used (making it hard to use for
everyone...including the new user).

Here the main issue:  People learn.  People don't want to be newbies...they
don't want to be beginners.  They learn to move out of that category as
quickly as they can.  People also don't stay expert very long...because
unless you use something all the time, your expertise wanes.  If you want to
design for the masses, you design for the intermediate user.  That's where
most of us hover all the time.

-Rich