While I think that there is no harm in longer functions as long as the code is linear, I think the the problem is that people abstract the wrong way.
The main issue I see is people writing functions that call functions that call functions. No. Don't. Have one main function that is in control and that calls all the sub-functions. Sub-functions do not call functions on their same level, ever. Yes, those sub-function could have their own helper function and so on but the flow always needs to be clearly one-directional. Don't go across and create a spaghetti mess. Trees not graphs.
Keep your code structure as flat as possible.
> massive pile of lasagna full of global or shared state.
Yeah, the skill is to avoid shared state as much as possible. Handling state centrally and opting for pure functions as much as possible.
The main issue I see is people writing functions that call functions that call functions. No. Don't. Have one main function that is in control and that calls all the sub-functions. Sub-functions do not call functions on their same level, ever. Yes, those sub-function could have their own helper function and so on but the flow always needs to be clearly one-directional. Don't go across and create a spaghetti mess. Trees not graphs.
Keep your code structure as flat as possible.
> massive pile of lasagna full of global or shared state.
Yeah, the skill is to avoid shared state as much as possible. Handling state centrally and opting for pure functions as much as possible.