Someone reposted a list of Programming Epigrams by Alan Perlis from 1982. Many of them are funny, some are just silly, and others are probably incomprehensible to today’s programmers. They are sufficiently well known that they’re mentioned in Perlis’ Wikipedia entry. One that stood out to me was #93:
When someone says “I want a programming language in which I need only say what I wish done,” give him a lollipop.
I’ve heard that before and it always resonated with me but in view of Last Friday’s Red Meat Friday it seems especially timely. What, after all, is “vibe coding” but a desire to simply tell the computer what you want done and have it magically happen?
One could argue that with Vibe Coding the dream of “do what I say” has been realized and that celebration is in order. I’m more inclined to think that Perlis’ prescription is the better reaction.