The thing is, "programming" tests might be the most robust solution if you know how to do it - but it also can be a waste of developer time. In the end, you spend your time on debugging the tests itself...
In my experience, record and playback can work well. Especially visual, screenshot-based solutions like Sikuli or Kantu are actually more stable then most developers think. And the beauty of them is that they can also be used by non-developers, i. e. "manual testers", so the developers can actually work on the main product, not the test suite.