Comment by rtpg

I think this qualitative argument is made but is very unsatisfying for something as quantitative as compilation or runtime speeds.

It leads to blithe things about how there's no such things as zero-cost abstractions. But at one point the cost is so low and amortized that you're looking at something that's basically free.

What is the compilation cost of the `?` syntax shorthand? Probably quite low!

What about the compilation cost of underscores in number literals? Again, quite low?

To this point a bit, I think a lot of people talk about the borrow checker, but my understanding is it's fairly low cost, and I don't worry about it.

Monomorphisation costs though? That feels like something that could generate a lot of work.