Omg you guys are so... picky. Who actually, legitimately, gives a flying fuck. In console, there is an option to enable "Classic Crafting" and I use it because I think that console crafting is for noobs but I don't give a shit who uses it as long as I can use the way I want. It's not like they're gonna ban the normal crafting from Minecraft forever. Plus you don't even have to enable it since it still lets you craft it manually because it's not like they're gonna take away the crafting table in your inventory.
In my opinion, this update is kinda unnecessary, true, because I don't know who doesn't have 30 to 60 seconds max, to just search up, "Minecraft how to craft fences" and then go from there. But think about it, about every big survival game other than Minecraft that I can think of right now, has automatic crafting, so why not Minecraft? Sure, it might ruin the classic unique feel of crafting that Minecraft has had since it's birth, but it is still also nice how you don't have to search up for example "fences" every time because people do usually forget that a lot including myself.
Also, I have good idea. What if they made it that whenever you want to craft some thing, you have to craft it manually (laying out all the blocks separately on a crafting table) first, and then it gives you the recipe. That would be kinda cool, and I don't see any cons with it compared to this update. (unless you're a fucking noob who is so lazy to search up minecraft fences just once) This way, you will only have to search it up once, instead of having to search it up every time.
In conclusion, just let people craft however they wish to.
-Chilled