That Usability study really accurately captures my experience on Nix as a n00b:
10 sessions with (absolute or relative) Nix beginners of different software development backgrounds quickly produced some observations:
People love control and reproducibility.
Developers just want to get things done and do not care how it works.
Engineers usually care most about one specific programming language or framework.
People do not read, only skim.
nixos.org navigation often does not meet user needs.
Information about the Nix ecosystem is perceived as being highly dispersed and disorganized. Confusion and disorientation quickly kicks in and often results in “tab explosion”.
The learning curve is perceived as extremely steep.
The Nix language is easy for Haskell users, and obscure to almost everyone else without appropriate instructions.
Practical advice on effective teaching and learning, backed by broad and deep evidence.
The best-written and probably most important book I have ever read.
Ditto. It’s weird how it keeps happening, but basically every time I have to do something new in Nix the right incantation takes a crapton of time to find, but once it’s there it’s really simple to read. I wonder if there’s a big difference between how Nix maintainers and other programmers think?
That Usability study really accurately captures my experience on Nix as a n00b:
The links on doc writing are really good too:
Ditto. It’s weird how it keeps happening, but basically every time I have to do something new in Nix the right incantation takes a crapton of time to find, but once it’s there it’s really simple to read. I wonder if there’s a big difference between how Nix maintainers and other programmers think?