Schematic entry (4th generation) vs. VHDL/Verilog (3rd generation)

Maybe we should try to avoid terminology like inferior and such, as the discussion may become 'religious' ...

It is somewhat analogous to text base configuration files (as always available in Linux) and GUI programs (like the Registry under Windows). Both have their followers.

If we look at e.g. Altium en Orcad ( I know a bit of both) you have the possibility to design FPGA code by schematic entry. (Altium claims this is the best thing since sliced bread ...)

Back in 2000 when we started with Quartus I used the BDE but it was buggy, so I reverted to text entry (then in AHDL). Lately I regained interest in the BDE, mainly because of the hierarchical view it offers. We have developed a suite of building blocks which we can combine very intuitively in a schematic (following the left to right approach you mention). If we do this in e.g. VHDL we end up with a lot of text to describe essentially simple wires or buses.

Eventually the lowest levels of the hierarchy will be HDL text files as this is the convenient way to describe complex logic, but that is the fun part!