You're missing the point, I think. Higher-level languages just reduce the number of lines before you start to hit the maintainability wall from poor design. So, while maybe it's >100K lines of C that's where it typically happens, it might only be 10K or 20K lines of Ruby.

Perhaps. Though I'd rather deal with a messy 10K lines than a messy 100K. And having less code helps you keep it clean.

In a higher level language you get a lot of good design for free. For example nobody has to worry about GoTo-spaghetti-code any longer.

Second reply: Fail faster.