Thread by @aaronwhite

Code is dying.... but not because AI writes it- because LLMs simply won't need it!

I'm a Carnegie Mellon CS grad w/ a focus on programming language theory, and have exited several 100s of millions of useful software startups.

Living software is coming, here's how I think about it:

When the only tool you have is a hammer (boolean logic) every problem (useful software) becomes a nail (code) - and for 80+ years, this is how we've written software.

But...

Most useful software isn't a precise algorithm. It's a person saying "here's what I do thats valuable, I want to automate it, and others might want that too."

For example,

"Monitor reddit for brand mentions" or "when buying software, always get competitive bids to keep price down" - these are useful activities! And another person could "execute" those tasks as written, because their brain can fill in many of blanks.

That's not true for code though...

Turning simple "person instructions" into trad software products requires contorting six ways from Sunday to express this intent in boolean logic. And with it.... a TON of incidental code complexity.

So unless you are doing cryptograph or precise algorithms, why have LLMs write code when they can understand the intent directly?

We need to challenge the software orthodoxy- AI agents, with simple "person instructions" can create remarkably useful & robust software almost instantly (try this with @appy_ai or others)

But it's better than just speed to value- we are entering the era of "Living Software":

We aren't used to our software instantly getting smarter/faster/cheaper - but we will, because simply upgrading the LLM delivers all that without rewriting code!

We aren't used to our software recovering from errors and marching forward- but we will, because agents dynamically solve w/o needing direction!

We aren't used to our software being perfectly tailored for us- but we will, because agents remember and align to our preferences on a dime!

We are definitely not used to our software being alive - but that's exactly whats happening. The future of software is alive! and you can build with it now!living.software

And if this was valuable, check out @appy_ai or give me @aaronwhite a follow

I love the future, and I hope all of us can make great things together!