I think abstraction is promoted way too much in programming. People use lisp macros as an example of too much abstraction since it allows you to write a DSL tha

I think abstraction is promoted way too much in programming. People use lisp macros as an example of too much abstraction since it allows you to write a DSL that only you understand yet they celebrate the poor man's DSL they create using their OOP abstractions. I like the math homework approach to programming. First you get in there with a vague idea of what you need to do, you bang your head against it until it starts to make some sense. You then move on to more complicated examples only to realize that what you thought you knew was wrong. After going through many of these iterations you might start to notice some patterns common to all examples and if you're lucky they might turn out to be true. This is rare and only happens when you have a very good understanding of the problem.