As many are fond to point out - complexity exists, and it will make its prescence felt, no matter what you or I may want. So, the goal shouldn't be to reduce the complexity of the problem, but instead to channel that complexity in order to reduce the complexity of the solution. If the problem requires that extra thing to learn about in order to reduce the solution's complexity, then that is the true Laziness. Trying to skip a few characters in typing ... that is false Laziness, and should be avoided.

Now, about your de rigeur argument ... that's how you got into trouble in the first place. You took a solution from a Great in his field and said "If XYZ says it works, then it must be the only way." Just because 90% of a group do things in a certain way doesn't mean it's the right way. Granted, it's the way you should probably check out first, if only to know what it is. But, you should understand the solution, why the solution works the way it does, what problem(s) does it solve, and when is it not applicable.

An iterator isn't always the right way to iterate through the items in a set. There are times when it's appropriate to use other concepts. However, I've never run into one. YMMV