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Why write code in 2026

softwaredoug.com

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Re: Why write code in 2026

#91

Post by TrackerFF »

If we look at the progress made from ChatGPT 3.5 (Nov 2022) and up to today...shoot, I'm really starting to wonder if we'll even be reviewing code in 4 years.

And I'm not saying this as some sort of AI maximalist. If progress keeps up, I seriously doubt software engineering and development will, as we know it today, will be a thing in the next 5-10 years. Maybe humans will be left with designing the UI, but everything else will be abstracted away and AI will be doing all the actual work behind the scenes.

Re: Why write code in 2026

#92

Post by XenophileJKO »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #84
jayknight wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this. I got into this field because designing programs and writing code is enjoyable. I'm probably behind on using AI and need to get more up to speed, but I never want to stop coding by hand.

> I'm probably behind on using AI and need to get more up to speed Same. My difficulty is that for the past 8 years I've been working for (tiiiiny) SaaS business where I don't have anyone I can simply ask in-person "hey, can you show me how to 'do' all this newfangled AI agentic team coding?"; so my only direct-exposure is with the painful Copilot sidebar chat, which I now find myself allergic to. So let's see elsewh…

I don't understand this. A skill critical to software engineering is learning how to learn. Just download Claude Code (or open alternative) and try to make things.

See how it fails or succeeds. Look at the supported features, try them out, think about how you might use them in your workflow.

Before you know it, you'll be proficient.

You have to learn how to self-teach.

Re: Why write code in 2026

#93

Post by devin »

deadbabe wrote: post #88
ryandvm wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have Claude write assembly because there is no training corpus on people making CRUD apps in assembly. I'm as hateful of LLMs hollowing out the job market as the next guy, but the reality is the frontier LLMs are really good at writing anything that's been done and documented on the Internet a million times and unfortunately most of what software devs have been doing the last couple decades is shitting out…

What's there to advance to? Without a revolutionary new platform to build apps on that no one has ever developed for before, there is basically no reason to believe there is any software left that has some business or economic value that hasn't already been written.

If you think we're "done", you have no imagination.

Re: Why write code in 2026

#94

Post by deadbabe »

avaer wrote: post #71
majorbugger wrote: post #65

Why is this even a legit question? I need to keep writing code to stay relevant, not to forget my craft, be able to review code... So many reasons. AI doesn't change a thing.

Before my time ppl mostly did things in asm, I bet the vast majority of people reading this have never touched assembly and will never have any reason to. This is quickly becoming true of most "code". AI has changed that. One way to "stay relevant" would be to admit that.

assembly is compiled deterministically so you don't really need to look at it, LLMs though can write a variety of things at random based on the prompt. It is not the same.

Re: Why write code in 2026

#95

Post by softwaredoug »

TrackerFF wrote: post #91

If we look at the progress made from ChatGPT 3.5 (Nov 2022) and up to today...shoot, I'm really starting to wonder if we'll even be reviewing code in 4 years. And I'm not saying this as some sort of AI maximalist. If progress keeps up, I seriously doubt software engineering and development will, as we know it today, will be a thing in the next 5-10 years. Maybe humans will be left with designing the UI, but everythin…

The thing is with a wish machine, you can one shot something very easily.

But then you realize software is the accumulation of 1000s of wishes. And you want this but not that. Many little micro decisions of exactly what you want in every nook and cranny.

In the current paradigm (LLMs) we still have to manage all this. But maybe in the future we have something impossible to imagine.

Re: Why write code in 2026

#96

Post by softwaredoug »

mcrk wrote: post #14

Do ppl think that programmers just write code from sratch each time..?! Even without AI I barely write code. 95% of time are spend setting up integrations, configs, copying & adjusting code from previous projects.

I’m old enough to remember coders being made fun of for doing copy-pasting from stackoverflow all day.

Re: Why write code in 2026

#97

Post by andai »

>It’s our job to build the software factory - not just the software. Software engineers maintain the assembly line allowing anyone to prompt for a change and ship immediately.

The job of the software engineer increasingly becomes to make himself unnecessary: to empower the nontechnical business users to do as much as reasonably possible, without his/her intervention.

This has, of course, been the dream of computing, since its inception! And the true aim of every "high level" or "beginner friendly" (looking at you javascript!) language.

But finally, now that the computer actually speaks English (and is beginning to stop making completely insane errors), it gradually becomes feasible.

Freeing the masses from the tyranny of the nerds!

Re: Why write code in 2026

#98

Post by lp4v4n »

ryandvm wrote: post #78
mrweasel wrote: post #73

Apparently it's not obvious to everyone, but if you can't write code, you can't review it. I do know people, and companies, that says: "So what, we ask Claude to write the code, Codex will then do the review". The thing that then strikes me as odd is that they still ask for the code in Python, Java, or some other high level language.... Why? Just ask Claude to dump out assembly, or a compiled binary, but no, they don…

They don't have Claude write assembly because there is no training corpus on people making CRUD apps in assembly. I'm as hateful of LLMs hollowing out the job market as the next guy, but the reality is the frontier LLMs are really good at writing anything that's been done and documented on the Internet a million times and unfortunately most of what software devs have been doing the last couple decades is shitting out…

>They don't have Claude write assembly because there is no training corpus on people making CRUD apps in assembly.

I'm disputing this. You can have a training corpus in assembly as big as any other language: just feed the compiled result(in assembly) of the CRUD apps to the LLMs.

Re: Why write code in 2026

#99

Post by nektro »

deadbabe wrote: post #88
ryandvm wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have Claude write assembly because there is no training corpus on people making CRUD apps in assembly. I'm as hateful of LLMs hollowing out the job market as the next guy, but the reality is the frontier LLMs are really good at writing anything that's been done and documented on the Internet a million times and unfortunately most of what software devs have been doing the last couple decades is shitting out…

What's there to advance to? Without a revolutionary new platform to build apps on that no one has ever developed for before, there is basically no reason to believe there is any software left that has some business or economic value that hasn't already been written.

that you don't see this as inevitable worries me dearly

Re: Why write code in 2026

#100

Post by softwaredoug »

mrweasel wrote: post #73

Apparently it's not obvious to everyone, but if you can't write code, you can't review it. I do know people, and companies, that says: "So what, we ask Claude to write the code, Codex will then do the review". The thing that then strikes me as odd is that they still ask for the code in Python, Java, or some other high level language.... Why? Just ask Claude to dump out assembly, or a compiled binary, but no, they don…

I’m finding it all boils down to cognitive differences.

Some people find code easier to read than the English description. It’s more precise and many experienced devs can scan it and know what’s happening

Many other people can’t read code. Or they find English easier to read than code.

Thats not a knock on anyone. Maybe the latter will rule the world because the former focuses too much on irrelevant details. Or maybe me there are just different types of problems that need differing levels of attention to detail.

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