You're taking the metaphor farther than I would, especially since the N (delivered functionality) is subjective. In business, you tend to have three relevant s

You're taking the metaphor farther than I would, especially since the N (delivered functionality) is subjective. In business, you tend to have three relevant scaling cases: better-than-linear ("synergy"), linear, and worse-than-linear ("congestion"). "Bad" (inexpressive) languages tend to be non-synergistic in capability/delivery of features and congested in terms of accidental complexity. "Good" languages, if used competently, go the other way.