[wjagodfrey]

In regards to your last comment, abstraction is a good thing but there's a conversation to be had around quality of abstraction. Good abstraction doesn't age, or at least ages very slowly. Lack of abstraction in languages leads to innovation and iteration, that then leads to good abstraction. We are general too quick to assume that a new thing is good abstraction. Better, in some cases, to leave abstraction discovery in userland, as good abstraction is rare. The cost of poor abstraction within a language is API and cultural lockin, when better solutions are found.