I have thought about this, but in the context of understanding the root causes of these problems: 1) is it a language design problem, 2) a misunderstandi

I have thought about this, but in the context of understanding the root causes of these problems: 1) is it a language design problem, 2) a misunderstanding or misconception on the part of the programmer, 3) due to or related to bad coding/smells (e.g. method body too long), 4) high complexity code (could be related to (3), could reflect the domain), 5) reduced programmer cognitive capacity (distraction, stress, sleep deficit, lack of motivation, etc.). These would be interesting research areas for instrumenting IDEs / other eco-system tools to collect some of this data. (I'm sure there is already some work in some of these areas and would appreciate names or links to high-quality reviews.)