I completely agree with the idea of simple, flexible tools for interacting with programs and providing good tools for users. A while back I was putting togethe

I completely agree with the idea of simple, flexible tools for interacting with programs and providing good tools for users. A while back I was putting together a DB query tool for volunteer staff to use. I deliberately made it simple and as unambiguous as I could within the limits of "simple". For example, allowing a free form search of principle database fields, I set up a very basic regular expression syntax, just substring match, and optionally '*', '+', '|', and '.'. This part of the interface is 3 text entry fields, with a nicely worded help message right next to the entries. In person, I showed the primary users how the interface worked and demoed the simplified regex. Months later there are sometimes still questions like "how do I find somebody named 'John Q. Smith'?" ("Just enter 'smi' and pick the name off the list of names sent back.") I don't mind going over it again, especially for someone new, but I think it shows it may be harder than we anticipate to introduce "programming-like" methods to typical users.