I fail to see the mystery. In my opinion, state machines are the most straight-forward parts of programming. There is a learning curve with lex and yacc but i

I fail to see the mystery. In my opinion, state machines are the most straight-forward parts of programming. There is a learning curve with lex and yacc but if you cannot ever use these programs then what can you really call yourself a programmer? It's the endless search for a "new" programming language and the layers upon layers of needless abstraction created by today's "programmers" that I find mystifying.