Working on a Programming Language in the Age of LLMs

9 months ago

The author has been working on Rye since 2018, seeing potential value in it despite the rise of LLMs.
LLMs generate code from prompts, and while results can be good, they still rely on existing programming languages and resources.
Developing a new programming language is challenging, especially when LLMs threaten to make traditional languages obsolete.
LLMs currently depend on host languages but may eventually develop their own ecosystems, potentially killing off existing languages.
The key question is whether natural language is the best way to declare computer instructions, or if specialized languages offer better precision.
Programming languages are tools for thinking, not just communication, and losing them could diminish our ability to think precisely.
LLMs are backward-looking, trained on past data, raising concerns about whether they can drive genuine innovation.
The author questions if LLMs can produce original thought or merely recombine existing knowledge.
Despite the challenges, the author believes it's still worthwhile to build a new language, perhaps now more than ever.

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