What Will Programming Look Like in the Future?

highscalability.com

12 pointstoddh2 comments

"Requirements are a trap. They don't work. Requirements are no less complex and undiscoverable than code."

I used to believe this too, but no more. What hit me is requirements manifest complexity of a different kind - a kind that humans are much better at managing, especially when using Scenario-Based Requirements. This means a lot of business application programming will become automated.

Meanwhile, humans are going to be engaged in UX development, systems programming and systems integration for the foreseeable future. So there's still going to be quite a bit of work for developers to do. Heck, with the automation of the creation of business applications there may be somewhat paradoxically more work for developers to do.

It's not really about complexity. The restriction is the ability of humans to sit on their butt in a room and determine every possible requirement. This doesn't work. As soon as you start development you learn. As soon as you interact with the environment you learn. As soon as you interact with customers you learn. You never stop learning during the life time of a project which means requirements are never complete and can never be fixed in stone.

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