The end of programming languages!?!

[Zanix]

Talking about the .net deal in one of my classes yestereday.

How they want to take the programming out of programming, etc...

I was wondering, would a programming language ever develop that doesn't require any computer knowlage? or even any programming skills?


What if you could just sit down at a computer and have and idea, then the computer would synthesize it for you. Or maybe you could tell the computer you want a program that would... I don't know... do anying.. want a video game like this with these things and PRESTO! let it compile and there you go!


It would be pure ideas. Who ever had the best ideas would make the best games or apps, whatever. It wouldn't have anything to do with skilled programming or planning. Just the idea.

Then attach a 3d plotter/molder and you'll be making things like Fleshlight.


/puts down crackpipe

 

[MacBaine]

What if you could just sit down at a computer and have and idea, then the computer would synthesize it for you.

Who's gonna write the program that does that?

CHECK... MATE.

 

[gopunk]

it's been thought of already

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Zanix

I was wondering, would a programming language ever develop that doesn't require any computer knowlage? let alone any programming skills.

you need to "think" how to make a friggin sentence so that whatever you are using to type will make sentences that make sense.

i honestly have no clue what that means.

 

[dman]

Originally posted by: MacBaine

What if you could just sit down at a computer and have and idea, then the computer would synthesize it for you.

Who's gonna write the program that does that?

CHECK... MATE.

Quantum computing / Artificial intelligence


Still needs manpower to create, but, eventually the machines will be smarter. Clearly it hasn't happened yet (in the future) because we still exist.

 

[lozina]

will never happen

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: MacBaine

What if you could just sit down at a computer and have and idea, then the computer would synthesize it for you.

Who's gonna write the program that does that?

CHECK... MATE.

Only Data from Star Trek could do it. Guess we'll have to wait until the Enterprise crew comes back in time to battle the Borg. Oh yeah, most of us were dead then. Forget it.

 

[Zanix]

Originally posted by: lozina
will never happen

What about the differences between basic and .net? It's been ~20 years? How about 20 years from now? What do you think it'll take to program then?

 

[NutBucket]

It just pisses me off that programming evolves so damned quickly. I learned C++ using Visual Studio a few years ago and now I have to write some programs and I'll can find is .net. Yeah yeah, blame me for not keeping up with the times but this sh!t goes in and out of style too quickly. Maybe this is why I can't stand it.

 

[hevnsnt]

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: MacBaine

What if you could just sit down at a computer and have and idea, then the computer would synthesize it for you.

Who's gonna write the program that does that?

CHECK... MATE.

Only Data from Star Trek could do it. Guess we'll have to wait until the Enterprise crew comes back in time to battle the Borg. Oh yeah, most of us were dead then. Forget it.

God I hate it when people reference star trek, wars, or lord of the rings.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: MacBaine

What if you could just sit down at a computer and have and idea, then the computer would synthesize it for you.

Who's gonna write the program that does that?

CHECK... MATE.

It's called evolution.

We're not exactly using Assembly anymore, but if you write C++ code, all that does is create a binary. imagine writing a web page in binary.

It's just a matter of time till we start dragging and dropping things (actually Visual C++ does this already) to make programs.

CHECK MATE MATE

 

[Chadder007]

In Soviet Russia.....the Program writes YOU!!

 

[glugglug]

It's been around since the 80's -- seen wizards for creating video games even back then. Basically you had to pick/draw the images for the different sprites, give them different HP, speed, & damage values, decide what objects they can pass thru/bump into, pick different AI properties, & make all your maps, and it creates an executable for you.

 

[torpid]

I believe that there have already been some programming "languages" that are graphically driven. Programming has been evolving over time to the point where the mundane is becoming less necessary as more and more patterns are identified and refined.

Personally I think that languages will become unimportant, but still will exist. I already see a huge convergence of ideology between J2EE and .net, and in a few generations more of each, it might get to the point where your core knowledge is entirely independent of language and platform, and you can take that knowledge and quickly apply it to any platform by just having the API and syntax docs handy. It's already about 40% or so of the way there.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Zanix

Originally posted by: lozina
will never happen

What about the differences between basic and .net? It's been ~20 years? How about 20 years from now? What do you think it'll take to program then?

The logic hasn't changed, only the syntax.

 

[artikk]

Originally posted by: lozina
will never happen

will never happen at least in our/next genereation of humanity. You never know.

 

[skace]

The easier a language is to use, the more bloated it is and the slower it runs.

 

[Jzero]

WYSIWYG programming already exists in crude forms. It may be a programming bear, but it is a trivial concept to take a framework idea and convert it into code. In fact, this is how I do all my programming - I write out what I want it to do in plain English and then I figure out how to turn my narrative into code. Current natural language technology isn't good enough to just do this on its own, but it may well be eventually. I think it's safe to say that programs written by programs will always suffer in the efficiency end, and that they will likely always require a programmer to go in and tweak things that the machine doesn't quite get right, but it could probably develop light programs like "Track my spending habits" 100% of the time.

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Wired News article

Its a pretty far-fetched idea, but an interesting one... computers that program themselves.

 

[duragezic]

Who remembers Pie in the Sky 3d game design engine or whatever the hell that thing was? Hahahhah

 

[StageLeft]

I've not read that .net is to take the programming out of programming.

Funnily enough a .net book I was reading recently stated that people in the past have thought that programming would get easier and easier until it's all just wizards. But, the exact opposite has happened. As languages become more powerful and technology evolves, all we see is that the simple, mundane crap like creating a textbox goes away, but the real meat of things is even more abstract and requires a greater degree of skill. So, I can throw a form together with some fields in 3 minutes, but to make them all work properly takes an ever-increasing degree of competency, if I expect them to work with all other tiers of an application.

In a world where we've still got billions of people doing braineless grunt work that a robot could theoretically handle, don't expect programming to go away any time soon.

It's just a matter of time till we start dragging and dropping things (actually Visual C++ does this already) to make programs.

Yep, you can already make much of a program based upon dragging and dropping objects, but who creates those objects? There is still so much customization that until AI is able to write code for us you will never see all possible objects available from a vendor, and you simply throw them together to write an entire end-to-end application.

 

[piroroadkill]

Nah, put down the crack pipe.

"This can't be good for me, but I feel great"

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: MacBaine

What if you could just sit down at a computer and have and idea, then the computer would synthesize it for you.

Who's gonna write the program that does that?

CHECK... MATE.

Only Data from Star Trek could do it. Guess we'll have to wait until the Enterprise crew comes back in time to battle the Borg. Oh yeah, most of us were dead then. Forget it.

Data's head is in a cave somewhere. Its been there since the 1800s remember?

 

[rsd]

Do any of you who responded know .NET? It is just an OO programming with a drag and drop presentation layer more or less. Sure it makes making tables and text boxes etc easier, but you still need to know how to think and program and use OOP.

 

[PingSpike]

As a language increases in ease of use it decreases in its scope of ability. For instance, you can write a program in C++ or assembly...assembly will be harder but the end result would be faster/better.