As a developer, I prefer technologies which don't plunge me into the "abyss of uselessness", where I know enough to know that something should be possible, and

As a developer, I prefer technologies which don't plunge me into the "abyss of uselessness", where I know enough to know that something should be possible, and how it's done in the "old way" but have no idea how to do it in the "new way".