[preseinger]

Cognitive load is unrelated to SLoC.

This expression

    let a = x.iter().filter(...).apply(...).map(...);

is equally or even potentially _more_ cognitively complex than this expression

    for _, v := range x {
        if !filter(v) {
            continue
        }

        vv := apply(v, ...)
        vm := map(vv, ...)
        ...
    }

[lamontcg]

focusing on a pedantic detail that i clearly didn't intend and which doesn't change my point.

consider it from a blocks-of-code metric, or some better slightly more abstract metric, that isn't affect by simple things like whitespace transformations, and try assuming that we all understand that we should write code that isn't monstrous to begin with.

[preseinger]

"Monstrous" is an opinion, not a metric.

I would personally much rather maintain the code in the second example than in the first.