Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the last years, simplistic languages such as Python and Go have “made the case” that complexity is bad, period. But when humans communicate expertly in English (Shakespeare, JK Rowling, etc) they use its vast wealth of nuance, shading and subtlety to create a better product. Sure you have to learn all the corners to have full command of the language, to wield all that expressive power (and newcomers to English are…
>But writing and reading are asymmetrical and a more expressive language used well can expose the code patterns and algorithms in a way that is easier for multiple maintainers to read and comprehend. It's exactly the opposite. Writing and reading are asymmetrical, and that's why it's important to write code that is as simple as possible. It's easy to introduce a lot of complexity and clever hacks, because as the auth…
Problem is, that makes every small part of the program simple, but it increases the number of parts (and/or their interaction). And ultimately, if you need to understand the whole thing it's suddenly much harder.
Surely you can write the same behaviour in "clever" (when did that become a negative attribute?) or "good" way in assembly. You are correct. But that's a different matter.