🚀Future of Coding: A Decisive Shift from Programming to Algorithmic Thinking


A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece on how Generative AI (GenAI) impacts Coding & IT services. Since then, the discourse on the topic has expanded, with insights from various experts in the field. Most recently, Jensen Huang, the visionary CEO of Nvidia, brought a radical perspective. He contends that the traditional emphasis on learning to code might be becoming obsolete in the face of advancing AI technologies.

🌟Huang suggests that we pivot from conventional programming languages to leveraging human language prompts, a shift that could democratize programming and enable practically anyone to 'code' through AI interfaces. Effectively, he argues that AI will kill coding.

💡But that's the half part. When I was studying in the class of Prof. Raja Sekhar G P at IIT Kharagpur in 2002, one day, he chastised some students for focusing more on coding languages. "You think programming is computer science? You're mistaken. At best, it can be classified as a computer application. You can do a BCA or MCA for that if you want. What we are studying here - Algorithms - that's computer science, where you critically analyze step-by-step instructions and their efficiency in making computers do what you want them to do."

🧩It is this distinction that is going to grow more vital. As machines learn the ability to do programming - i.e., they crack computer applications - it is the computer science domain that will gain importance. It will be more important to understand the breaking down of complex issues, context, and design systems, and to give the correct instructions. Coding and execution can then be done well by AIs. Human Coding should thus see a decisive shift of focus away from programming and toward algorithmic thinking.

📚And what is algorithmic thinking? There are many views, but my view is that it is nothing different from critical thinking - a step-by-step logical process to reach a given outcome. The same thing is deployed in prompt engineering in modern-day AI.

🌐AI's rise is an evolution, changing how various things, including coding, integrate into our lives. Tomorrow's coders will be pioneers, blending AI to unravel complex challenges. Students will do themselves a service by shifting their focus from learning coding to learning how to create algorithms.

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