[foldr]

>This really doesn't mean much. The second cube (or another shape) isn't going to double the line count.

It's like the difference between "Hello World" in Python and "Hello World" in Java. Doesn't matter in the context of a serious software engineering project, but it's a significant barrier for beginners.

[account42]

I agree with your analogy. It just so happens that Java is commonly taught as a first programming language and most people manage just fine with the class boilerplate even if they don't really understand it yet.

[pjmlp]

Yet the burden in C# and Java was consider enough of an issue versus languages like Python, JavaScript, Go, that both platforms are reducing the hello world boilerplate.