"Data" to me is the least complex input from a human, whereas "code" is more complex and necessitates a lot more work to make sure it's correct and bug-free. I

"Data" to me is the least complex input from a human, whereas "code" is more complex and necessitates a lot more work to make sure it's correct and bug-free. If you embed "code" in "data", you made your thing way more complex and subject to software design patterns. But in software operation, we already have to contend with highly complex systems, so we want to remove as much time and effort and complexity as possible from the instrumentation. To put it another way: if you had to run a nuclear reactor, do you want to instrument it by constantly writing new code, or turning a dial? I'd rather turn a dial. That means I have to develop the code for that dial ahead of time, but in the end, actually using it will be safer.