"Back in the day", hardware was EXPENSIVE, not to mention the cost of the physical space, power and cooling that it required. This was where managers "counted pennies". The programming style that you describe was needed to make things work in the environment that we were given. Today, the cost of programming, especially maintenance, far exceeds the cost of hardware. Tools that reduce these costs are almost certain to reduce the cost of a project. It simply does not mater that they 'waste' hardware resources. Old habits die hard, but pennies still count.