Ask HN: Do we even need code anymore?

Nothing ever dissapears just becomes systematically implemented and gets relegated but not disappear until something that does the job better appears, but doesn't dissapear electronic didn't push mechanic out, they both do different things, that's the beauty of it.

All the people who choose a foreign language over coding are being vindicated.

AI and tech will never be able to make that look not uncanny in a business or social interaction, whereas it is making a non 10x coder redundant as we speak.

Can AI actually read binary code and change it?

Good luck when it goes wrong.

We do need code, cause humans can't read and understand binary. Let's say, even if we do get perfect English -> Binary, often times what people specify in english can be vague or just not what they actually meant. So if the AI just outputs binary, it will get very difficult to be sure that what is implemented is actually what the user meant.

Did we ever code?

I think it would be wise to heed the lessons of "The Machine Stops", a short story from 1909.[1,2]

I personally, want to learn as much as possible about infrastructure, and how to build and maintain it. I spend quite a bit of time helping a friend repair old electronics. We've even repaired Cesium beam atomic clocks!

It would be quite foolish to give up coding as a human skill. For me, being a full stack developer goes all the way back to knowing how use sticks and sharpened stones to build bricks, roof tiles, and shelter, as John Plant documents so well on his YouTube channel[3]. (Turn on subtitles!)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops

[2] https://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~koehl/Teaching/ECS188/PDF_files/...

[3] https://www.youtube.com/@primitivetechnology9550

If you really trust the AI that much, I guess not.

But personally I not only like to be able to debug issues with the code generated, but make my own changes on top of that. Programming things is kinda fun in of itself, and the idea of just leaving a machine to do it all for me just doesn't sit right here.

I just spent the better part of the week looking at code. I guess I'm the last one.

I had a similar thought and posted a question. Looks like I put it in the wrong place!