Minimalism helps. Ruby has one kind of minimalism, but fails at minimalism in some other ways. The same with Go. People who like Haskell like the kind of reasoning it facilitates. People who like Java want a managed version of C++'s "good parts."
A lot of it has to do with expectations. Going beyond the principle of least surprise, there's also a principle of "no dismay." Go is like the dependable old Corolla. It sets modest expectations, and it delivers a high degree of utility very consistently, and if you're ever let down, it's very rare. C++ can cause you utter dismay due to rather subtle slip-ups. I've only seen this level of dismay in Golang around subtle resource release issues around prepared statements.
A lot of it has to do with expectations. Going beyond the principle of least surprise, there's also a principle of "no dismay." Go is like the dependable old Corolla. It sets modest expectations, and it delivers a high degree of utility very consistently, and if you're ever let down, it's very rare. C++ can cause you utter dismay due to rather subtle slip-ups. I've only seen this level of dismay in Golang around subtle resource release issues around prepared statements.