[mgkimsal]

I disagree that the positive/negative is irrelevant. Much of the discussion around Scala has been around how complicated it is, and ensuing discussions about how the person who thinks it's confusing is not smart enough, and how Scala is the "right way" to do things, because it's elegant, etc.

Having a lot of those sorts of comments I don't think will guarantee future success.

[michaels0620]

I am a half step above a blub, but I've been doing some work in Scala and generally enjoy it. I do, however, think the Scala community needs to have a more convincing reply to the complexity argument than "You aren't smart enough to see its brilliance".

My fear is that if things don't change, Scala will fall into a perl-like situation where it won't be able to shake its reputation and people will reject the language out of hand before taking a look at what it has to offer.

[jebberjeb]

It's too late for that. Scala's community has been branded as a bunch of condescending intellectuals. Just like Ruby's community was branded as a bunch of pierced, macbook users in 2005. Neither are really true -- but first impressions mean everything.

[latchkey]

Comments like that always remind me of this image...

http://www.picshag.com/show.php?f=pics/112010/java-c-php-rub...

[gclaramunt]

To be fair, most of the "not smart enough for Scala" comments come from people who don't like Scala and complains that the "average Java programmer" (whatever that means) won't get it ( which I find very insulting )

[soc88]

Exactly. Those “type systems experts” and “academics” who usually get bashed for mocking “Java Joe”s are normally those who say “have a look at it, it isn't hard”.

[pvillega]

I meant irrelevant to the fact that they are talking about it. Obviously, if they mention negative points on the language (and those points are true) it's bad for the language. If it's pure FUD it's also bad, yes.

But even if it's only to spew hate, the fact that so many people talk about it, must mean something. Too much attention for a fringe language...

[soc88]

What makes it even more disturbing is that those who say “it is too complicated” are the arm-chair experts who never used the language (just have a look at the recent flame baits). :-/