That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I agree that this is smart editing that preserves the original meaning well. The one decision I question is simplifying your nicely-phrased “Most programmers spend most of their time attaching these disparate blocks together” to just “most programmers spend their time [...]”
eg
Programmers => Programmers in general, with many obvious exceptions, too numerous to list in a brief reply.
All Programmers => All Programmers
PS- Hmmm. Now I wonder if any style guides cover this? Surely some do.