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So, basically, everyone who is capable of producing excellent code is bared from using a powerful technique, largely because some people can't understand the code they produce.

It's a difficult trade-off, one one I've had to make calls on several times. Do you use the full capabilities of incredibly gifted and talented programmers, and then allow code into your codebase that maintenance programmers can't understand?

Tricky.

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I think the best solution is to have the better ones mentor the lesser ones. It takes time away from coding in the short-term, but it is a good investment in your people in the long-term. Metaprogramming is something that any good programmer can understand if they are just taught well, just like all the other difficult parts of programming that people routinely like to ban: pointers, goto, lambdas and functional programming, C macros, Lisp macros, etc. Using them correctly really helps a lot, using them incorrectly can hurt a lot.

The solution is to learn how to hit the nail with the hammer, not your thumb.

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