Abstraction is expensive
Lack of abstraction is also expensive: try writing something large in assembly.<p>I'd say that lack of a <i>language / system of notions adequate to the subject area</i> is expensive. The desire to describe things in a way that's efficient for a particular class of problems leads to invention of various frameworks. Say, Rails makes you <i>hugely</i> productive at solving a particular type of problems (see [Shopify]), though it's less than helpful if you try to apply it to unfitting problems (see [Twitter]).<p>[Shopify]: <a href="https://tomaszs2.medium.com/how-shopify-handled-1-27-million-requests-s-during-black-friday-cyber-monday-8a4b1d0dd1f9" rel="nofollow">https://tomaszs2.medium.com/how-shopify-handled-1-27-million...</a> (Sorry for a Medium link)<p>[Twitter]: <a href="https://www.theregister.com/2012/11/08/twitter_epic_traffic_saved_by_java/" rel="nofollow">https://www.theregister.com/2012/11/08/twitter_epic_traffic_...</a>