50 years ago I wrote COBOL in near-plain language clear enough for the industrial client to check the logic from the source, with meaningful data-names. We input it on 80-column cards which had been 'interpreted' (ie content auto-printed in plaintext along the top of each card, to make debugging easier - just switch card/s), and the pack 'compiled' overnight, with 4 magical tape decks flipping away while we drank cocoa (sometime with rum) - hard drives weighed half a ton then, and only Government had them. With all the resources now available, things seem to have gone way downhill since then.