To the crux of the article, from an experienced dynamic/static language developer on Mac, Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD:
The OP argues OS X isn't for casual, inexperienced, and green developers who run across some random gem/pkg/app/lib/etc online they think is cool and want to play around with, but are inconvenienced and sidetracked by needing to install gcc or other non-included toolchain packages.
I'd say by the time such a "casual user" hits this point, she begins crossing the line over casual & has sufficiently whet her appetite for more meaty endeavors. S/he might actually look at this "inconvenience" as fun, exciting, or something equally positive that increases his or her personal confidence upon completion (yes, even when it's just an installer on OS X). Now they have cool new tools available to them. They'd probably have an even greater boost in net positive feelings if Apple provided an Ubuntu-like console window during XCode installation that gave a nice terminal output of all the install's goings-on--s/he might feel a buildup of positive feelings for this systems-level, programmerish, "geeky" insider's view.
I'm afraid the OP is guilty of looking at the casual new developer from the perspective of the rushed and impatient developer who, like myself, just wants shit to work and work now.
When I pause for a moment to look at it from the not-so-casual-anymore user's perspective, however, I remember a good couple of years when I thought I was a badass cos I ran nothing but Gentoo Linux and chrooted, bootstrapped, and compiled every last package on my system from source for days. I'd watch compilations fill the screen and would have bet money I'd just grown an inch. I'd let that stick around a few weeks and then do it all over again for the excitement of it and to see if I could do it from memory. After a few tries, I actually could install Gentoo on a bare system without touching the manual, entirely from memory. This was almost 10 years ago, and I thought I was really something. But it was fun.
There's a lot of excitement when one starts crossing the line from casual to more meatier development & systems use. I'm doubtful there's as many negative feelings experienced by the audience championed by the OP as he'd like us to believe. Especially on OS X.
The OP argues OS X isn't for casual, inexperienced, and green developers who run across some random gem/pkg/app/lib/etc online they think is cool and want to play around with, but are inconvenienced and sidetracked by needing to install gcc or other non-included toolchain packages.
I'd say by the time such a "casual user" hits this point, she begins crossing the line over casual & has sufficiently whet her appetite for more meaty endeavors. S/he might actually look at this "inconvenience" as fun, exciting, or something equally positive that increases his or her personal confidence upon completion (yes, even when it's just an installer on OS X). Now they have cool new tools available to them. They'd probably have an even greater boost in net positive feelings if Apple provided an Ubuntu-like console window during XCode installation that gave a nice terminal output of all the install's goings-on--s/he might feel a buildup of positive feelings for this systems-level, programmerish, "geeky" insider's view.
I'm afraid the OP is guilty of looking at the casual new developer from the perspective of the rushed and impatient developer who, like myself, just wants shit to work and work now.
When I pause for a moment to look at it from the not-so-casual-anymore user's perspective, however, I remember a good couple of years when I thought I was a badass cos I ran nothing but Gentoo Linux and chrooted, bootstrapped, and compiled every last package on my system from source for days. I'd watch compilations fill the screen and would have bet money I'd just grown an inch. I'd let that stick around a few weeks and then do it all over again for the excitement of it and to see if I could do it from memory. After a few tries, I actually could install Gentoo on a bare system without touching the manual, entirely from memory. This was almost 10 years ago, and I thought I was really something. But it was fun.
There's a lot of excitement when one starts crossing the line from casual to more meatier development & systems use. I'm doubtful there's as many negative feelings experienced by the audience championed by the OP as he'd like us to believe. Especially on OS X.