The way I interpret this is that the 'just ifs and for loops' is like Matrix rain code. In the beginning it looks like gibberish scrolling down the screen. When you master it, it's still gibberish scrolling down the screen, but it's simultaneously something else on another level as well.

I often find myself writing simple things with a compact-but-high-level-conceptualization, that when edited by someone else, clearly only saw the rain.