While I agree with your point, the example you gave feels like a straw man. Or at least, a separation of "sharp edges" and "long documentation needed".

Phrased differently:

Go: To make a something public, start the var name with uppercase.

C++: To make things public, type the word 'public'.

The Go pattern seems like more of a sharp edge than the C++ version, even though the C++ version might need more reading to learn.

Go using casing for access is quick but is awful when you just want to change the access later on. It's not like writing `pub` before the var/field is suddenly javaland, see rust.

What do you mean changing the access?

You mean from private to public?

In that case, you would just have to change a single package.

(also, if yes: does it happen often and is that really what we should optimize for then?)

Yes, you have to rename a var/field to change public/private. It's not a huge deal of course, just an annoying exception.

Re: optimization, what does using casing instead of an explicit `pub` prefix optimize for, exactly? Compiler complexity? Typing ergonomics?

You ever read the access modifier rules of C++ ?

Can you explain that to a newbie in 2 sentences ?

No, but I don't think that's relevant. Rust or Java access is doesn't require much typing ceremony, and doesn't require you to rename a var to change the access.

I think it optimizes for readability.

I got up and running in Svelte in literally 5 minutes, and it blew me away. I just started building and referencing the docs along the way. But then...I ran into their reactive model, and spent an entire day trying to debug (what I thought was) a very simple problem. I can't recall the details but I remember it had something to do with the order of updates? It was super confusing. Moral of the story is that there are always trade-offs.