> Whenever some NodeJS or Python project is mentioned, I've never seen the complaint "NodeJS syntax is too hard" or "Python syntax is too hard".

Because their syntax is used for more than just configuration (if it's used for configuration). These are full programming languages that a lot of people know and understand.

Nix on the other hand is a DSL that is used in exactly one place: nix configuration. So I think it's fair to complain about nix-as-a-language and its syntax when the only place you will ever encounter it is nix configuration.

And especially with gems like

--- start quote ---

Attempting to perform division in Nix can lead to some surprises.

    nix-repl> 6/3

    /home/nix/6/3

What happened? Recall that Nix is not a general purpose language, it's a domain-specific language for writing packages. Integer division isn't actually that useful when writing package expressions. Nix parsed 6/3 as a relative path to the current directory. To get Nix to perform division instead, leave a space after the /. Alternatively, you can use builtins.div.

    nix-repl> 6/ 3

    2

    nix-repl> builtins.div 6 3
 
    2

--- end quote ---

etc.