Yes, we absolutely should rely on that.

Why would programmers, who are basically tool-builders, reject tools that help us write and analyze our programs? This is not the 1970s, and bare-bones text editors are not the only option. Why should we, who build tools for others, restrict ourselves to a self-imposed unreasonable simplicity?

You are free to use Vi or whatever, but don't complain when everyone else uses better tools to improve their productivity, and if the code they write is better suited for those tools that is perfectly fine.

I don't know... i'm frequently torn deciding between whether i think this is true or not.

On another note, readability of code is less about coding style and more about familiarity.

Something like this:

    let thing: Thing = source.prepare();
    let thing = thing.make_iterator();
    let (first, second) = thing.split();
    let first = first.filter();
    let second = second.reverse();
    let items: Vec<Item> = first.join(second);

This simplifies debugging too. You can set a breakpoint and view the variables or you can use println!.