27-June-2005

Juanjo Navarro in  más que código posts a link to his article in VersionCero in which he discusses the future of programmers. From time to time a new tool appears that promises to create code without programmers being involved. In the process of the development of software, an initial high level design is used as input by a programmer and converted into step by step instructions that a machine can execute. If a time comes when the needs and wishes of a user group can be captured in a high level design that resolves all the ambiguities that are currently resolved by the programmer in the process of writing the source code, then indeed programmers will no longer be needed. That time is currently far off. Indeed, each report of a new tool that creates code without programmers being involved has been followed by a resounding silence and although the tool may be useful, its limitations soon become apparent. In most cases, the process of programming is already the most effective way in which software can be developed.