>The smaller the abstraction, the more complex the emergent behaviour is when you combine all the itty-bitty little abstractions together That's not necessaril

>The smaller the abstraction, the more complex the emergent behaviour is when you combine all the itty-bitty little abstractions together That's not necessarily true. Abstractions with a small surface area (exposure to their 'outside world' - e.g. via function signatures) that are very deep (they hide a lot of complexity) make more complex behaviour much easier to manage. When the surface area is high and the depth is low is when the overhead of the abstraction tends to exceed its use value.