@bumpus @june I've dug on this aspect (abstractions vs. specializations in engineering) in this message https://social.platypush.tech/@blacklight/110804405853563768.

You are right, when you optimize you usually specialize and lose abstractions, which means losing the general-purpose aspect.

But the opposite is also true - create too many abstractions, and you start introducing more cognitive burden, besides the performance overhead.

I feel like there's a "sweet spot" for general-purpose software.