Debating with a compiler

I’m always delighted by the light touch and stillness of early programming languages. Not much text;
a lot gets done. Old programs read like quiet conversations between a well-spoken researcher and a well-studied mechanical colleague, not as a debate with a compiler. Who’d have guessed sophistication bought such noise?

– Dick Gabriel

Ref.: OSCON 2010: Rob Pike, “Public Static Void”, https://youtu.be/5kj5ApnhPAE?t=41