The (allegorical) history of programming told through the (flimsy) analogy of house construction— #94
Early programmers had to make their bricks, they had to mix their cement. They were programming in machine code, the nuts and bolts. Low-level coding that pushed programmers right up against the hardware they were working on. They could taste and smell the bits. Then things developed.
Some higher-level abstractions took place and, soon enough, programmers didn’t have to make their own bricks and mix their own cement. They could grab these from elsewhere and focus on the art of putting these bricks together; building walls. Some programmers got really good at this. Some really solid walls were built. Some even introduced windows (get it?).
It wasn’t long before a lot of programmers didn’t have to know how to mix cement or make bricks anymore, and this was ok. There was no need to reinvent the wheel — or the brick — after all. Then programmers found it easier to build houses. Bricks and cement were easy to come by, and they were reliable.
Walls began to be built in an organised fashion and buildings were formed. Initially, these were simple structures, single story. A bit rudimentary, but they did the job. Interior decorating hadn’t been invented yet. Then, when wall building entered a new phase of maturity, some programmers realised they didn’t have to build walls anymore. They could simply gather pre-assembled walls from elsewhere and put them together to form buildings. Two-storey, three-story buildings soon because easy to build. Skyscrapers were not far off.
The new breed of programmers don’t even need to know what bricks are. They just take walls, doors, panels, and windows and they assemble them into impressive structures. It wasn’t long before lone programmers could build complete structures with great rapidity and reliability.
What would have taken a team of programmers from decades ago months to complete could now be done in a matter of days by a single programmer. The modern programmer is less of a builder and more of an assembler. The modern programmer sleeps well because his life is so full of bliss and tranquility. He now only has to work 8 hours a week because of the advancement of technology and the tools at his disposal.
He rarely has nightmares, but the one nightmare that all of these modern programmers experience (but quickly forget each morning) is that, one day, no-one will remember how to make bricks.
