I’ve been a computer programmer all-told for 43 years. That’s more than half the entire history of electronic programmable computers.
In that time, I’ve seen a lot of things change. But I’ve also seen some things stay pretty much exactly the same.
I’ve lived through several cycles of technology that, at the time, was hailed as the “end of computer programmers”.
WYSIWYG, drag-and-drop editors like Visual Basic and Delphi were going to end the need for programmers.
Wizards and macros in Microsoft Office were going to end the need for programmers.
Executable UML was going to end the need for programmers.
No-Code and Low-Code platforms were going to end the need for programmers.
And now, Large Language Models are, I read on a daily basis, going to end the need for programmers.
These cycles are nothing new. In the 1970s and 1980s, 4GLs and 5GLs were touted as the end of programmers.
And before them, 3GLs like Fortran and COBOL.
... continue reading