Programming languages still matter

Despite the sterilized nature of LinkedIn, I find myself surfing it every day. And without fail, between the various jobs posts (it’s a job network right?) and the “thought leaders” who are regurgitating the same things over and over, A specific kind of post always sticks out. One which talks about how programming languages are dead now that we have LLM’s, that your framework or language choices don’t matter. Just let the LLM do it’s thing and you don’t need to care about what you’re using.

For me, the key example which always stands out in my mind was someone that the LinkedIn algorithm had recommended to me talking about how since RailsConf was ending, it was proof that languages no longer mattered. To this day that sticks out in my mind, because more and more I think it’s just plain wrong.

Programming languages matter. Programming languages are how we express what we want to the computer, and are how how we express what we’re doing to other humans. They’re crafted to address our needs, and to effectively target various platforms. They enable people to quickly jump in an feel the joy of creation we as devs get to experience, but also enable mastery of the computer, allowing engineers and hobbyists to build global scale systems which change the world.

They’re our paintbrushes, allowing us to paint on our digital canvases to express ourselves and create. LLM’s can help us generate this code, they can be a boon in helping us get through tedium that we don’t enjoy. But they aren’t making our ability to express ourselves obsolete.