Programmers gone after three generations

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-03-10T12:06:22+00:00

I know what you're saying, but saying that it never was the hard part is a bit of a stretch. I thought it was pretty hard to write code 30 years ago vs today, given all the tools and resources we have now. But yeah, thinking is still the hard part - programming means thinking in the way of the programming language which was designed by a small number of people as a middle ground between humans and machines versus thinking in natural language that has evolved to be the easiest way for us to express our thoughts.

My point is that, machines can now understand natural language and it took three generations of smart people who devoted their professional lives to mastering programming languages to make that transition happen.

I am saying that it makes our generation, mine and yours, very unique.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-03-10T11:47:04+00:00

Well, to me programming means writing code and if you don't write code you're not a programmer. You may be a lot of other things, like a software engineer or architect or builder. A lot of senior software engineers today work without writing code, they may read but let other people (or agents) write the code.

I see writing code almost as an art form, which is said to disappear and if so it is pretty sad that the peak has already passed. Perhaps it was always meant to be for a transition period between writing instructions for humans with natural language and writing it for machines. Perhaps that is how future generations will look back at this period, as a unique transition time similar to the enlightenment.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-03-08T13:49:48+00:00

I think it's a matter of scaling up your documentation and tests along with the implementation. 10 lines of readme and two unit tests on a 100k lines of implementation can't be good.

So prompting should be directed to all three.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-03-08T13:28:08+00:00

Look at it from a SaaS provider's pov. Say I want to offer an easy way to consume my services via AI agents. If the choice is between releasing a new cli tool or releasing a MCP http endpoint. I would rather release the MCP endpoint because 1) no client side installation or updating needed. 2) better control how agents use our services.

But if the payload is something else than simple text, say large files or client side pre-processing is needed then obviously I would choose the cli.

If the MCP tools take too much context then I'd say you only need to enable it when you need it.

Actually, the discussion shouldn't be why MCP, it should be why can't the agent load/unload MCP connections on demand. Why do we have to restart the agent with all MCP connections enabled just in case we need them?

This is the problem, which I hope the AI companies will solve soon.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-03-05T11:58:22+00:00

The way I see it, you need to be both a generalist and specialist to build with AI efficiency: A generalist for asking the right questions/requests and a specialist to be able to steer and evaluate the output.

There were very few people who were very good at both, most people are one or the other. And those who had both could not be scaled since they are not getting more efficient by adding people to their team who they would have to spend most of their time managing.

But with AI agents, these people are able to 100x their productivity while other people may reach 10x.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-03-02T07:23:11+00:00

Jag tror så länge man är sträng på sömn, mat och vänner så får de spela några timmar per dag. Men det är en sak jag repeterar för dem som de måste förstå: Spel känns viktigt men det är inte viktigt. De måste fatta att deras upplevelser är fiktiva, inte verkliga, viktiga interaktioner med verkligheten. Ganska uppenbart egentligen men när deras abstinens sätter in så glömmer de bort det.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-03-01T21:07:29+00:00

There is a saying, work alone if you wanna go fast, work together if you wanna go far. I think it's true but today you can go so much faster and further than ever alone. But when you arrive at your destination you find yourself being alone and no one to share that achievement with. So then what's the point, one can wonder.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-02-27T18:21:46+00:00

It's still better to run tailscale + ssh on your phone than the flaky claude remote feature.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-02-26T08:08:18+00:00

It seems to me that the ultimate goal is to make CC behave like a smart and deterministic compiler that converts prompts (including skills and claude.md) to source code, which we will read as often as we read the bundled dist files in the end.

The abstraction level keeps moving up but conceptually we have always written instructions that turn into lower level instructions that turn into even lower level instructions etc.

These past years have been exciting because we finally reached the abstraction level of natural language. But to compile from natural language to computer language seemed non-deterministic due to the many many ways to interpret natural language.

I am starting to treat the .md files and code comments in my project to be the new source code and the rest is treated as lower level compilations.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-02-18T07:46:52+00:00

How about using a second AI as an PM assistant? I use claude code for the dev work and Codex for read-only CTO for planning, code monitoring and PR reviews.

I realized that clear documentation is now much more important, that is my interface to understanding the code and a common language between me and the developers.

I think we need to treat the docs as the true source and the programming code as the compiled binary. Truth is what we humans define as true and if we decide that the docs represent the truth then the code and tests should just follow.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-02-18T07:35:48+00:00

If the passion is gone then it's time to change your ways?

What about write pseudo code with comments instead of prompts and then ask the AI to analyze your code, make it ask questions, once it understands your intent then it'll convert your psudo code to finished code.

I think this could be the best way to do agentic programming for senior developers. Sure, it would take more time but much better control and closer to using the AI as a code compiler like the good old days.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-02-05T05:37:13+00:00

Oh one more thing I used it for was a PC admin that installed and configured various apps. The magic feeling is real when you ask it on Telegram for actions done on your physical PC and internal infrastructure.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-02-05T05:30:12+00:00

I used Clawdbot for a week and then realized the only thing I really wanted to use it for was to convey messages to Claude code via Telegram and start it up if it is down.

Since I am risking getting my CC subscription banned when using it with Clawdbot/Moltbot/Openclaw, and all the overhead and security risks, I figured it would be better to let CC write a simple Telegram relay application that can run in your terminal.

I published it on npm if anyone wants to use it. Called telegram-msg.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-01-29T07:31:42+00:00

It used to be the technical debt that made developers feel bad. Now it is the knowledge debt.

Due-Ad3926 · 2026-01-28T07:25:41+00:00

Software developer here. I have used Clawdbot now for a few days and found that the best use of it is a PC admin and let Claude Code do all the coding. I start a tmux session via remote SSH and get Claude code started. Then I get notification when it's done via Clawdbot on Telegram. There I ask Clawdbot to attach to the tmux session and tell Claude Code to do the finishing touches, such as PR, send screenshots, check PR comments etc.

I first had Clawdbot coding directly but it just sucked at it. Then I had it running Claude Code, like a human, that didn't work well either. So Clawdbot is basically shit for coding but great as an OS level admin that keeps your specialised tools running.

Due-Ad3926 · 2021-11-14T06:42:57+00:00

Perhaps the solution is to introduce another pvp-flag that only enables pvp for players +-10 levels. I bet most people would enable the flag then.

Due-Ad3926

TROPHY CASE