less complex languages - i.e, languages that abstract away difficulty That is a very anomalous definition of complexity. In truth, a language that is more comp

less complex languages - i.e, languages that abstract away difficulty That is a very anomalous definition of complexity. In truth, a language that is more complex may or may not be more abstract. For example, Prolog operates at a very high level of abstraction, and it is far less complex than a language like C++. C++ is less complex than C C++ allows programs to be written at a higher level of abstraction than C, but it is not less complex than C by any reasonable definition of "complexity". In fact, it is the very existence of the C++ tools for abstraction (classes, templates, virtual functions, MI) that cause much of C++'s language complexity. Perhaps you are conflating the complexity of the language with the complexity of a typical program written in that language?