This might not be a perspective of a programmer, but the code I've reviewed and tried to understand from academics is always easier to manage when it's not abstracted too deeply. Especially when reading the code is the main reason for trying to understand the underlying idea.

Unless you have an extensive (visual?) representation of how the code flows, abstracted code for beginners might be a hindrance towards understanding what's happening at the lowest level while still maintaining the contours of the whole thing.

Of course when everyone's on the same page and has similar understanding, this is no longer a concern.