> we continually add features in the name of "flexibility" until we have an unwieldy mess requiring HTML, CSS, Javascript, a framework, and various middleware p

> we continually add features in the name of "flexibility" until we have an unwieldy mess requiring HTML, CSS, Javascript, a framework, and various middleware pieces to make a site. We make a new library to abstract away the complexity, but the cycle repeats and that library is too complex, so a new library is created on top of it to simplify. Well put. That cycle of layering (abstraction, addition, complexity and then another layer of abstraction) has been going on since we invented the programmable computer. Machine language got us started but it was a bit on the hard side to put it mildly, so we came up with assembly language. That was fine on simple chips with little instruction sets, but then features were added and platforms multiplied, so we abstracted away the complexity with C. Then we started to solve problems for end users, so we added text- and graphics-mode libraries and the whole thing grew again. Then graphical OS's came along and suddenly object orientation and event handling made a lot of sense and we evolved various languages to do that, including C++. All built on the layer below and the layer below and so on; underneath it all we're directing electrons with little gates made from transistors. The point is, everyone at any stage of the evolution of computer programming has wished for what you want: a simpler, more expressive language with less 'busy work' (for want of a better term.) Someone creates it, we're happy for a bit and we make amazing things with our new toys, then the pain starts again as the more visionary people among us (like your good self) start to think about what problems they could solve if only they didn't have so much dreadful housekeeping to do and all this stuff to wrangle. Think about what your world - the web - is built on!