> 2) It's too difficult for new users to remember the tricks that are supposedly "better." It's a lot like Python vs. Perl -- Perl is a really smart and clever language, but you can type just a few characters more to write Python and it'll be a lot clearer as to what's going on.
Doesn't this same argument lead to the conclusion that new users won't use Perl over Python or --to put it more inflammatorily-- that Python killed Perl? This is surely demonstrably incorrect.
This is purely anecdotal, but learning Perl is currently on my backburner in part due to its reputation. I did use it a bit in a bioinformatics class, and I have edited a few small Perl scripts, but Python simply works for me. Perl's reputation, if you could call it that, has negatively impacted my desire to learn the language.
(Maybe I'm worse off for it? Who knows. I mean no harm and don't want to impinge on anyone's feelings. I just don't see myself picking up Perl anytime soon. Just my own two cents, FWLIW.)
Doesn't this same argument lead to the conclusion that new users won't use Perl over Python or --to put it more inflammatorily-- that Python killed Perl? This is surely demonstrably incorrect.