> He's saying that a small, simple, imperative core is easy to understand (and the rest of the language is built on that), whereas more declarative languages te

> He's saying that a small, simple, imperative core is easy to understand (and the rest of the language is built on that), whereas more declarative languages tend to involve more complex compilers and more magic, making those languages harder to learn and comprehend. Yes, for some unstated definition of "imperative" and "declarative".