It sounds like he doesn't think the level of abstraction offered is high enough. If you are using an FPGA as a general purpose device, and not for prototyping,

It sounds like he doesn't think the level of abstraction offered is high enough. If you are using an FPGA as a general purpose device, and not for prototyping, then a higher level of abstraction would be helpful. Otherwise, if you are prototyping, you may want a lower level of abstraction that may offer a closer approximation to your end goal.