Low code

Being a professional software developer today is not about writing a programming language, and writing code is not the most crucial part of the job. Software development is mostly about the stack, the platforms, data sources, databases, network layers, APIs and security mechanisms and procedures that you use to build client-server software solutions.

Visual programming = bad idea

Visual Programming and Why It's a Bad Idea

New Progamming paradigm?

What machine learning means for software development:

“Human in the loop” software development will be a big part of the future.

Professional x Amateur

Software Engineering is different from Programming

Great text. Settles the issue of amateur programmer versus professional.

Plus good advice and references.

Programming methods

Wise words:

• Silver bullets don't exist. Each project has unique characteristics and, therefore, needs a specific development method.
• Since each project is unique, shelf solutions rarely are optimal. That being so, in order to get to the best software development method, you must design your own method according to the characteristics of your own project.
• To design your own method, learn from all existent approaches, processes, frameworks, methods, and practices.
• Keep it simple at first. Start using it ASAP and improve it based on actual feedback.
• Someone must be in charge of orchestrating everything related to your brand new development method.
• Continual continuous improvement is crucial.

Programming is a craft

Good answers to a Quora question: Are Google software engineers really doing anything extraordinary day-to-day than simply coding/fixing some quite trivial software stuff?

One of them deserves to be read. By a Google engineer:

"The joke at Google is, “Other engineers are working on things that are going to change the world, but I’m just sitting here moving protocol buffers around.”

Then you open up the Deep Mind code and take a look at it, and it’s just method after method that’s full of code that’s just moving protocol buffers around.

It turns out that the most extraordinary code is really ordinary if you look at it closely enough. Not just at Google. Look at the code that Richard Stallmann wrote for GNU bash, like the glob processor. Was that extraordinary? Absolutely. It’s also just awful, tedious code, frustrating to write and boring to read.

It goes the other way, too. I’m working on a project that I’m finding really exciting and interesting, and anyone I describe it to quickly changes the subject and walks away so that they won’t be bored into insensibility. But I’m close enough to it that I’m finding it fascinating. There are so many ways for it to go wrong! And I have to find and fix them all!"

Low code? No code?

Very strange idea. A programmer (= software developper) should try to code less. Ideally not code at all.

This idea is similar to "simplified languages", like Basic. Languages for children. Why don't we have also simplified mathematics? Only the numbers from 1 to 5. Will be easier to learn...

The author is not aware that his proposal means going back to things like RPG. The old and abandoned Report Program Generator. Was not a language, was a fixed cycle program with some variable parameters.

He could go a little bit more back, to unit record equipment.

He didn't understand the importance, historical, technical and intellectual of the universality of programming languages.

How about being a software composer? Or software artist?

Say Goodbye to Software Engineering (And Why Software Projects Never End)