[pornel]

Before the Web there were various BASIC-like languages. I remember Amiga had AMOS environment which was like BASIC+SDL, and people produced completely amateurish games in it (and I know which ones, because when they crashed, they'd jump to AMOS' IDE).

I'll argue that StackOverflow has improved things a lot. Now you can search for your problem, or publish your code somewhere, and people will gladly tell you how wrong you are. Before that could be wrong and keep writing spaghetti code off-line while being blissfully unaware how horrible it is.

I'll also question whether low barriers to entry lower average skill. Low barriers to entry mean increased competition, which creates a pressure to differentiate yourself. OTOH with high barriers to entry, once you get in, you can stay complacent, because you're irreplaceable whether you improve or not.