There's definitely some linear algebra which should be happening in the head of any programmer as s/he writes code, some combination and balance of functionalit

There's definitely some linear algebra which should be happening in the head of any programmer as s/he writes code, some combination and balance of functionality, conciseness, performance, readability / maintainability, extensibility, etc. I'd suggest that this lemma doesn't quite take into account that software quality isn't just about what it is able to do today, but how efficiently it's able to adapt or be repaired in the future.