Learning a modern IDE is more work than learning an 80's BASIC environment. The difference is that with the latter, I could write working programs and get stuff

Learning a modern IDE is more work than learning an 80's BASIC environment. The difference is that with the latter, I could write working programs and get stuff flying around the screen with minimal resistance. There's a lot of value in that simplicity that is still there somewhere but isn't generally accessible for anything "productive" by today's standards.