[werk_ag]

... the way Arduino code gets 'massaged' into acceptable C/C++ by the IDE, ...

I believe this was the key of the success of the Arduino... it was done to be easy to use by people (like me) that aren't professional programmers. Its ease of use allowed thousands of people to initiate in the programming world.
This was happen with me too, I never have programed strictly in C. I started just 4 years ago with the Arduino IDE. During this time I read a lot about this matter, and I understand why the purists of C, aren't big fans of the Arduino IDE environment. I hope the Arduino IDE builders don't loose their initial vision.