>the few rare times when you do need to understand what's going on behind the scenes, that might be complicated
Except they're not few or rare. Got a bug? Good luck figuring that out. Performance problem? Who knows. Most of the stuff you're using, you didn't write, you don't understand, it's all just black boxes, or as someone else said, mystery meat, glued together. And when it starts to smell, and oh it will, you're just looking at a mountain of mysterious complexity.
It's not like building stuff anymore. It's sticking stuff together. "Hey, it's just like playing with Legos!" Except quite often you end up with it feeling like stepping on Legos.
Except they're not few or rare. Got a bug? Good luck figuring that out. Performance problem? Who knows. Most of the stuff you're using, you didn't write, you don't understand, it's all just black boxes, or as someone else said, mystery meat, glued together. And when it starts to smell, and oh it will, you're just looking at a mountain of mysterious complexity.
It's not like building stuff anymore. It's sticking stuff together. "Hey, it's just like playing with Legos!" Except quite often you end up with it feeling like stepping on Legos.