Why are homepage examples too complicated?

[Benjiro via Digitalmars-d]

On Wednesday, 19 October 2016 at 09:32:29 UTC, Chris wrote:
>
> At the beginning, D was not meant to be a "first language", but 
> this has changed over time. In fact, almost all new modern 
> languages that emerge now have features that D has, like 
> templates, !boo ;), so beginners will have to learn them 
> regardless of what new language they pick. Thus, D is no longer 
> "worse" or "more complicated".
>
>> How do you win a visitor's interest in 2-5 seconds?
>
> Put a scantily dressed lady on your page ;)

Yep ... instant 1000+ visitors, just the wrong kind.

Now, if it was a programming challenge and and you can code to 
undress. Now that will draw in the right kind. *haha*

> Seriously, there will always be those who will prefer shiny 
> buttons and fancy talk to facts or usability.

Its that what is actually the issue. The fact that some think 
people want fancy buttons.

And no offense but basic D is just the same as basic PHP. They 
are all C languages. If somebody can start in PHP, they can start 
in D. The big difference is that there is much more materials 
available for PHP, so people more easily start.

It also helps that you do not need to do a lot of setting things 
up for PHP ( web hosts ready ). Where as with D, you need to 
download the compiler, have a root server etc ( if your looking 
at web programming ).

If you give a novice a D basic hello world or a PHP basic hello 
world, they can get going with both at the same level. Same with 
some high level ( basic logic if/else, loops, etc ). That is all 
the same or so simulare.

But when you trow people into the deep end with pipeline 
one-liners, templates, mapping etc... sorry but that is way above 
a lot of people there first experience with a language.

You have 3 class of people:

* Total newbies: People who want to see something simple. If i do 
x, then i get y. Ooooo, shiny. *lol*

* People with some experience in other languages: They look for 
similarities, they try to match there logic to the new language. 
This is actually a big group of potential recruits. A lot of 
those are actually self-taught programmers.

* People with large experience: They are advanced programmers. 
Linking advanced features from one language to another is no 
issue. They can quickly tell from the summary what the real 
advantages of a language are. All the programming lingo is no 
issue for them.

The current homepage example is in my option, right between group 
2 and 3. And its disregarding group one and two.