A very interesting source of thoughts is the work done by Bret Victor http://worrydream.com/ (take a look at Recent Output section).
Code the way we know it today will change. After all, human languages keep changing.
However, changes will happen in a very natural way, with selection of the best compromise between efforts and results. For instance, programming languages might not change that much while we might end up with more and more powerful frameworks to build software.
Nevertheless, next 50 years of evolution will be very very interesting to follow.
Yeah Bret has some very interesting points. I don't think he's shipping stuff anymore, that's kinda sad...
I agree with your point about frameworks, Bubble is a framework in some ways. However, my point was that at some point, creating software will not be done via typing code, but more through a more pleasant input/user experience (independently of the framework, which will of course evolve).
Ok, that's a good and hopefully true point. Code and tools will both evolve, eventually you might not deal directly with code but with the abstraction offered by such tools.
Code itself won't likely disappear. It will be just buried behind more and more layers of abstractions.
Code wont disappear unless there's some magical evolution of the PC.
Last time I checked, the idea of a universal computer came from Robert Turing several decades ago, and no one has even come close to revolutionizing that.
Even quantum computers fundamentally are hardware devices that emulate other computational machines through means of software/algorithmic theory. It hasn't changed, and it wont.
Just because you can understand a couple languages doesn't mean you understand computation.
When I said code will disappear, I mean people won't use it as much as they do today. Code will still be there, assembly language is still there for instance. I agree with that point.
I'm just saying that at some point, more people will be creating software, and for most of them, they won't use code, but something more visual. Similarly, today, most people don't use assembly language any more.
In other words (back to what we do at Bubble), we're trying to make of JS/Python/Ruby what assembly language is today.
Code the way we know it today will change. After all, human languages keep changing.
However, changes will happen in a very natural way, with selection of the best compromise between efforts and results. For instance, programming languages might not change that much while we might end up with more and more powerful frameworks to build software.
Nevertheless, next 50 years of evolution will be very very interesting to follow.