I do believe that when programming at "machine level" your language needs to be as simple and straightforward as possible. It needs to obey you like a sword. Y

I do believe that when programming at "machine level" your language needs to be as simple and straightforward as possible. It needs to obey you like a sword. Yes, you need some mastery, but you know that your every action is effective. No lost effort, no mind tricks, no unnecesary complexity. I find that every abstraction level makes me more unhappy and somehow lost.. So yes, I do believe Linus knows something and for sure he's not trying to fool himself. When you really try to build something to actually be used, all those abstractions will bite you..