Programmers aren't paid to code.
FORTRAN ("formula translator") was one of the first programs ever written and it was supposed to make coding obsolete. Scientists will now be able to just type in formulas and the computer will just calculate the result, imagine that!
Is this claim historical? As in, it was actually made at the time?
Which claim, exactly? That "coding will be made obsolete"?
Yes, it is. Literally every programming innovation claims to "make coding obsolete". I've seen a half dozen in my own lifetime.
it is like knocking down the vending machine, you have to rock it back and forth a lot before it falls down