However, today there is no VB-like experience for modern development regardless how much you’d be willing to pay for it.

I remember Delphi being pretty close back in the day, and it's still around[0] if you're willing to pay for it. Lazarus[1] is another option.

Apart from the underlying language, the experience is pretty close.

[0] https://www.embarcadero.com/

[1] https://www.lazarus-ide.org/

Delphi still exists:

> Build Native Apps 5x Faster With One Codebase. For Windows, Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux

https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi

And it's free if you don't make a lot of money of what you build.

And if you don't need/want to compile to x64 bit

Delphi Community Edition only allows x32 compilation

I downloaded it to try. It's not a huge limitation for most usecases I would imagine.

Do they make an exception for Mac, considering recent macOS no longer supports 32-bit binaries?

Have you tried Lazarus?

https://www.lazarus-ide.org

I believe there were some visual basic books you could get that would have a CD-ROM with a limited version in the back, but I may not be remembering correctly. Of course, you could also check those books out of the library and online activation wasn't really a thing then, so that's how I remember starting.

> Programming is easier than ever

Really, it's not. This trade has got much, much harder since I started. The languages are harder, because the targets are both more complicated and more various. Computers were mainly used to do sums (I worked on accounting systems written in COBOL).

I mean, it's easier if you take into account the complexity and richness of the modern computing environment, USB, PCI, caches, what have you. You are producing more powerful programs. But the onboarding ramp for modern programming is steep.