You may have a point. All I had at the tender age of 11 was the "]" prompt on my Apple II+. There are abstractions to deal with on the command line, but for the most part, they exist in one's head, so there's no worries about someone else's weird metaphor getting in one's way.

it's like math.

YMMV. Most of the HN population can deal with math. Some people's pupils constrict and their brains shut down.