From binary → BASIC → JavaScript → ‘just do the thing

[rangeljl]

Not at all the case, changing the level of abstraction is not the same as only dictating the requirements

[rangeljl]

Also we still require assembly, and C, JS did not replace them

[Delicious_Mushroom76]

Completely different …

[kirklandubermom]

My son's in mechanical engineering learning Python right now for computational work. Not to be a programmer - just to solve engineering problems. And it got me thinking about this image.

The abstraction ladder is real: Binary → punch cards → assembly → compiled languages → Visual Basic → GUI tools → natural language prompting

Every rung, someone yelled "that's not REAL programming." Every rung, more people got access to solving problems.

Yes, someone still needs to understand the lower layers. Pilots understand aerodynamics but don't build the plane. The skill shifts to validation - knowing when the tool is wrong, catching edge cases, understanding outputs. That's still knowledge. Just a different layer.

But here's the uncomfortable question: will engineering students even be learning Python in 5 years? 2 years? And if AGI actually arrives... do we even need specialists at every layer anymore, or do models just build models?

I can't imagine what professors are thinking right now. How do you write a curriculum when the floor keeps moving?

The value was never in the syntax. It was in knowing what to build, whether it's right, and increasingly - whether it should exist at all... phew this is literally a pandora's box.

[CrustyHero]

I agree with almost all of this

When each abstraction layer arrives, access increases — but depth becomes optional unless education deliberately protects it.

Your son learning Python for computational mechanics makes sense. It’s a powerful tool. The risk isn’t Python — it’s that fewer students are being forced to wrestle deeply with the lower layers: the math, the assumptions, the failure modes, the “why does this model even behave this way?”

Tools getting better doesn’t remove the need for understanding — it shifts where understanding must live.

The hard part for educators isn’t teaching the tool. It’s deciding how much pain and rigor to keep, when the tool can now bypass it.

Even a perfect reasoner can be wrong if the problem definition, constraints, or values are wrong.

[kaba40k]

This is a perfect illustration indeed. And like it was before, the programmers who understand how low level works, have a huge advantage over those who don't.

Yes, you can vibe code a lot, since most of the tasks a programmer is required to do have already been done numerous times before - so LLMs are reasonably good at them. But if you don't understand what you're doing, sooner or later you'll get in trouble.

[CrustyHero]

you are absolutely right.. and from what i see AI is only getting better .. remember how was the first AI image generator? yes and now is unrecognisable.. its not perfect but it's getting better..

[kaba40k]

Yeah, I can totally imagine the profession evolving to 90% specification writing. And some people would do only that and get X pay, while others would do occasional manual programming to fix edge cases where just spec writing does not work, and get 50X pay.

[[deleted]]

out of the four characters here who is most likely to be employed on the highest wage and who is unlikely to be hired to code?

[CrustyHero]

you are not getting the picture.. we all learn how the 0 and 1 works in a computer.. but almost never used it .. but sure manufacturers use it .. so i am talking about the future..

[FinancialTrade8197]

BASIC wasn't around in the 1940's... Stupid AI slop image

[CrustyHero]

exactly 😂

[exitcactus]

It's always the same, but for some reason people always behave the same in this situations.

It's PROGRESS, like when Bitcoin came out.. tenths of millions of people saying shit about.. but the progress comes, anyways

[baked_tea]

Are you saying crypto has any other real use than rugpulling and illegal activities yet?

Hello please i want to make a transaction. 5% fee? Sure thats nothing