You have a good point in that figuring out how to set everything up to code is a hindrance for those wanting to learn to code.
My start in "real programming" was after I received my TRS-80 Color Computer "for Christmas" (my parents actually purchased it much earlier for me, with my understanding that I wouldn't be getting much for actual Christmas - not a problem, I was thrilled).
Plug it in, turn it on, and bam - there you were at a flashing prompt, begging you to type in some BASIC code - which, there was a "tutorial manual" helpfully provided to teach yourself with.
Today, there isn't much like it any more to do the same. The closest would be the various online REPL systems for various languages; these fix the issue of setting up an environment, but very few (there are some) are designed to teach the beginner (to the language, or in general) programming.
My start in "real programming" was after I received my TRS-80 Color Computer "for Christmas" (my parents actually purchased it much earlier for me, with my understanding that I wouldn't be getting much for actual Christmas - not a problem, I was thrilled).
Plug it in, turn it on, and bam - there you were at a flashing prompt, begging you to type in some BASIC code - which, there was a "tutorial manual" helpfully provided to teach yourself with.
Today, there isn't much like it any more to do the same. The closest would be the various online REPL systems for various languages; these fix the issue of setting up an environment, but very few (there are some) are designed to teach the beginner (to the language, or in general) programming.