HN user
Even machine code vs C is a leaky abstraction which is why people use it. It is making tools that compile the code properly and allow proper debugging that is the problem. I suspect things might improve if and when these newfangled javascript engines provide some standard bytecode that supports metadata for debugging.
Having all the power of unix and a nice interface is great. Its slightly harder to sell if you are not a command line addict but if you are developer though you should be one.
My experience has been pretty positive. I can focus on coding and not have to spend all my time holding my OS's hand or hunting for settings buried in some maze of dialogs or some undocumented config file.
IDEs seem to be more a symptom of a programming environment that is poorly designed especially if your IDE is generating large amount of code for you. Perhaps that is what petzold was advocating if I could stand reading the talk in its entirety.
You should probably index the tags on the feeds also.
I have used quite a few build tools and scons is the one I keep coming back to for C/C++. Nothing beats being able to bust out python scripting in the middle of describing how your project should build.
Sounds similar to http://psyco.sourceforge.net/