Panasonic, Sony Ericsson, Siemens Up Their Symbian Stake
Does Gmail Prove Web Applications Can Work?

Do We Even Need Programmers Any More?

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the um.--yes. dept

Wed, Jul 7th 2004 12:41pm — Mike Masnick
InternetNews is taking a look at the latest development tool releases from Sun and Microsoft that try to "dumb down" programming to the point that any old idiot can create applications and wonders if coders are still necessary. The obvious answer the article reaches (and, yeah, the article includes a quote from me on this point) is that of course we'll still need real programmers. People have been promising the "programmer-less programs" for ages, and they seem to forget that designing applications isn't like designing a webpage. There's a lot more to it than just the user interface, and it's a different mode of thought. That said, however, it does seem like there is a real opportunity to expand the space of more personalized "quick and dirty" programs to solve specific needs. If people can have tools to build themselves specific programs it can expand the space, not necessarily shrink it for traditional programmers.
4 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    thecaptain, 7 Jul 2004 @ 1:36pm

    No Subject Given

    I don't think we'll stop needing real programmers soon.

    dumbing down programming languages is fine and dandy, and some non-programmers are quite smart enough and have the mindset to create some very good applications (lego-like) by slapping some code together...

    But...

    for each GOOD app, there's thousands of really REALLY bad ones...and I don't just mean bad as in they suck and don't work properly, I mean bad as in very bad in terms of security risks.

    Basically the "dumbing down" of computer languages accomplishes one thing in my mind, it makes it easy to slap together something quickly RAD-like to make a proof of concept or a quick and dirty solution. Once that's done, if its critical, then you go back, polish it up and do it right...with a REAL programming language.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 7 Jul 2004 @ 3:55pm

      Re: No Subject Given

      Exactly. Just look at Microsoft Access. While anyone can create a database with it, there's still a huge market for SQL databases. Different tools for different jobs, that's all.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Aaron, 7 Jul 2004 @ 3:02pm

    WYSIWYG Apps

    I've been using WYSIWYG tools such as Multimedia Fusion (clickteam.com) for years. They are VERY powerful in many cases but there is no substitute for the real thing. Don't entirely discount such tools right away though. I'd love to see some competition and innovation in this area.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Frank, 7 Jul 2004 @ 3:08pm

    PC magazine article

    related article "Self-Writing Software"

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]


Panasonic, Sony Ericsson, Siemens Up Their Symbian Stake
Does Gmail Prove Web Applications Can Work?
Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

Friday

19:39 Important Announcement: Techdirt Is Migrating To A New Platform (0)
More arrow

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.