Sure, and that distance is far enough for 95% of developers these days. If they feel the need to go even further, they could learn C at a later time. No need to scare possible developers away right off the bat.
A programmer should not be scared by the (still) most popular programming language. What's there to be scared by, anyway? For learning, C is just like Algol, very straightforward. Well, there's pointers: very useful for linked lists and such.
Sure, and that distance is far enough for 95% of developers these days. If they feel the need to go even further, they could learn C at a later time. No need to scare possible developers away right off the bat.