The ABC posted above could be making a point, if in a rather obscure way.
- How much Lilypond code would be needed to post the same tune?
- What are the chances of manually typing typing that tune in LilyPond and getting it right?
- At a pinch I could recognise a tune from the ABC. I very much doubt I could from the Lilypond code.

I regularly type ABC tunes at the keyboard. Until I need to see the dots for checking or printing I don't need any special software.

The difference between ABC and Lilypond is like the difference between a simple word processor (or even a text editor) and a DTP program. Lilypond can produce beautifully typeset music right up to full orchestral scores, but it will never replace ABC for jotting down folk tunes in computer readable form.

Actually, if I wanted better output than my ABC software can produce, I'd probably use MuseScore, which is also free, multi-platform and can do a lot that ABC can't, and I guess wouldn't take me as long to learn as Lilypond.