I was a programmer back then, and it's not the "golden age of programming" that some make it out to be. For one thing, WE were complaining about how big and bloated software was becoming compared to the "old days" when programmers only had 64KB to work with. On top of that, it took SO LONG to develop basic functionality that you could probably build in a one hour language tutorial now. Things that were excruciating to build are trivial now. Yes, there is a cost. Abstraction adds bloat, but it also allows developers to be much more productive.

I have a friend I play go with that is an old Univac programmer (he's 30 years older than me) and he often pulls the "call me when you have to use punch cards".

Developers always look back on the past a bit wistfully, but I assure you that some things never change.