[seiji]

couldn't imagine learning C without learning x86

One difference: C->x86 is a static translation layer. Other network/system things dynamically change out from under your "designed" system and alter threat/security/disaster/reliability/consistency models in a potentially unpredictable combinational fashion.

Saying "cloud abstraction" or "I trust this API and don't care how it works" is basically committing every https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacies_of_distributed_compu... and just saying "X can't break because we use provider Y who guarantees they can violate the laws of physics for us!"