I suspect that there is a sweet spot for learning and teaching programming, and it typically happens soon after a new technology emerges. There is a lot of exc

I suspect that there is a sweet spot for learning and teaching programming, and it typically happens soon after a new technology emerges. There is a lot of excitement, many low-hanging fruit, and the tools tend to be easier to work with. As time goes on, there is less motivation since the excitement has diminished and there are fewer unique contributions to make. More important though, the tools become more complex since their development has to address the needs of larger projects with more specific needs. I have seen this pattern repeat several times over in my life: programming personal computers with BASIC in the 1980's and web development in the late 1990's are the most obvious examples. HyperCard sort of fits in between since it was one of the more accessible GUI development tools, though it was by no means the only one.