The low-level programming needed for the Apple I is very different from "general programming". It made sense for Woz to do the hardware and the software.
In fact I doubt most "coders" of today could do something simple for an Apple I, even given modern resources (like a ASM compiler).
A Mad genius, to paraphrase Ang ( from Avatar the last Airbender )
There is no parallel to him and i don't believe there is anyone who can do both original hardware design and low and high level coding like woz.
Your point is so correct though -- he was a genius, and such diversity of skill should be respected and significantly more valued in the field today.
Nowadays a generalist is someone who can do both the front and back end of a website, let alone assembler or hardware. (That's why I find Jeff Atwood's keyboard work interesting, independent of the caliber http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2013/08/the-code-keyboard.h...)
Yes. Byte had Steve Ciarcia's articles, which were one of the main features of the magazine. We used to modify and build hardware, not just to overclock it, but piggyback memory chips or talk to bench equipment in the lab.
By the time I got out of high school, military and university I had: Built a pirated Apple II+, etched circuit boards, worked with 20 different operating systems, built radios, modems, remotes, door openers, set up a BBS, repaired TVs and stereos for beer money, modified a radar system and so on...
It's not a fair comparison.
Coders today don't have to drop to assembly or solder or wire-wrap or burn EPROMS. But it is something that many engineers and hobbyist did back in the day. (Myself included...)(And most commuters today don't have to harness horses up to go to work...)
But given time, I bet Woz or a few of us could teach someone interesting enough assembly to do something useful.
Well yeah, for the Apple I. But that Basic had limitations, it didn't actually supported float point types and that's why they had to license Microsoft Basic later on.
But yeah, at that point I believe Microsoft had more experience with Basic interpreters as well as a code base.
MS Basic on MSX for example was very good.