[4ad]

> The alternative could be `git stash -p`

No, because I don't run `git add -p` before committing (I would run `git commit --patch` for that). I run `git add -p` during the development cycle. To emulate this with `git stash` would require a very annoying dance with stash and rebase.

> newbies certainly struggle with it

Newbies don't even know about `git add -p`. Newbies struggle with git because commands are not orthogonal (as the article mentions), and because documentation sucks. There is nothing inherently difficult about the staging area, it's just that it's not very visible what object a command would use or affect (index/tree/working directory) and it's hard to learn this.

The problem is with the implementation, not with the model.

Another problem is that in most cases people don't really want git, they want svn with local commits and better merging capabilities. Git is very popular, for some reason people use it even if it's clearly not what they want or need. To these people I suggest they should use the DVCS features of Perforce.