> I guess I'm having trouble fathoming how languages were so far ahead while computers were seemingly VERY primitive. My intuition is that back then getting ru

> I guess I'm having trouble fathoming how languages were so far ahead while computers were seemingly VERY primitive. My intuition is that back then getting run time on computers was so scarce that the best programmers and mathematicians spent a great deal of brain time considering exactly what their software should be. If you only get one run a day, if that, you're gonna do your best to make it count. Today we're often in the opposite situation, where it can be entirely rational to burn incredible amounts of computation in the absolute sense to save brain time.