Arevos

Yep, it is daunting, and it does require a lot more time to understand the language and framework than PHP, and some bits aren't as well documented as the PHP manual.

But on the other hand it is faster to develop in than PHP, and once you know it, it'll save you a lot of time if you're into creating web applications.

For smaller things, PHP's probably a better choice. You don't need MVC for simple stuff.