Sorcery in the open: is generated code still source code?
7 hours ago
- The open source movement began in the 1970s with academics demanding source code availability, though 'free' was often misinterpreted as zero cost.
- Core open source principles: enabling users to repair defects, learn from original code, and extend functionality without relying on the original author.
- Programming evolved from machine code to assembly, then to compiled languages like C, which introduced optimizations that could alter intended behavior.
- Interpreted languages like JavaScript shipped as source, lowering the barrier to learning but also allowing obfuscation that hides intent.
- AI prompt-driven development now generates code but strips away author intent, making prompts unreliable and similar to shipping obfuscated assembly.
- Literate Programming (Knuth) embeds code in prose to preserve intent, a model that might address modern challenges where prompts or explanations become the true source.