@Paul @Zulfikar: my issue with the loop is that the output of code can change based on the context it occurs in. My comfort zone is that a function should always return the same value when sent the same arguments. In the context of `the_loop` this isn't always the case.

I realize this is a feature, not a bug. Event-based architecture and so on and so on...

Ditching the loop isn't for everyone, and I realize I'm substituting one opinion for another. It's definitely not the right approach for someone who's trying to integrate with the wider WP ecosystem: your woos, your eventcalendarpros, your yoasts. My strong belief is that this opinion (MVC-like and a separation of PHP from HTML) makes more sense when growing a theme over time and sharing responsibilities between diff't types of developers. Oh and not having <?php and ?> tags everywhere