Yeah, these days most development environments for industrial PLC supports the IEC-61131 standard which in turns defines a couple of different "languages" that can be used, Ladder Diagram being ONE of them. The IEC in GX IEC Developer that Ian shows a screenshot from comes from the fact that tool is IEC-61131 compatible where the older version, simply called GX developer was not. Today I think their (Mitsubishis) recommended tool is GXWorks3.
I'd say that for anything but the most basic projects you end up using a mix of the different "languages". Dave mentions a state machine for example, that's pretty much what SFC is, you don't need to do an FSM using discrete ladder logic.
Anyway, yes Ladder Diagram is definitely used each and every day but its "definition" might have changed a bit since the 70's. It's not just contacts and coils. In fact, what Ian shows IS Ladder Diagram (as shown by the [LD] designator next to the POU (Program Organization Unit) name in the project tree)