But here I am speaking of my own preferences and motivations, and I find
that Applesoft is a very welcoming programming environment for beginners
and experienced programmers alike. Few programs must be fast to be
useful, and very few are used frequently.
I would think that 48KB is _huge_ for any beginning programmer. And on
the IIgs, Applesoft is still just an 8-bit, 48KB environment.
48KB sounds like plenty for any "proof of concept", and it's hard to
imagine an Apple II as a realistic platform for an "important" app in
the modern world.
If we consider programming in C, then the IIgs is _practically_ the only
Apple II game in town, so there's no argument there--but most beginners
find C and its tool enviroment daunting--enough so that in the Apple II
world there is about one hobby C programmer for every ten thousand (or
more) Applesoft programmers!