When you are ready to deploy I "compile" the object model data into an IR (representing the "network topology") and then make a final pass and translate into HCL for all the various backends.

I'm not saying its "better" as it has trade offs. I'm saying for networks specifically, it is the only way I've seen in the real world to give these tools lots of value. Otherwise the network engineers end up spending all their time looking up the input data (vlans, subnets, ips, etc.) which is the part that is most time consuming for manual configuration as well. The validation and auto-generation of the input data is where the value comes in.