The compiler was supposed to end programming too
Comments on “The compiler was supposed to end programming too”
Claim-checked. Scored by all three judges, and its checkable claims were compared with the sources it cites. How far stories are checked
A hrih.si essay argues that AI coding agents repeat a seventy-year pattern: FORTRAN's 1954 report also promised to virtually eliminate coding, yet it moved the work up a level. Cited data shows review becoming the bottleneck. Faros AI found teams with high AI adoption merged 98% more pull requests while review time rose 91%. METR's trial of sixteen developers found a 19% slowdown, though that is one small study. The claims are cited without sources, and the 2031 scenario is the author's guess.
Why it ranked
No. 9 of 93 with a score of 0.67. The panel rated it highest on audience breadth (0.86) and new information (0.83), lowest on technical depth (0.50).
Every answer behind this is in the table under Score.
Score
0.67total under rubric v2.2
- Significance0.64
- Reader interest0.80
- Audience breadth0.86
- Practical relevance0.67
- Substantiated0.71
- Technical depth0.50
- New information0.83
- Counts against: Promotional0.13
- Counts against: Overclaim0.30
Each judge’s answer per question (0–1), their mean and spread, and what the question adds to the score (weight × mean).
| Question | Judge 1 | Judge 2 | Judge 3 | Mean | Spread | Weight | Contribution (weight times mean) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Significance | 0.70 | 0.45 | 0.78 | 0.64 | 0.33 | +0.24 | +0.155 |
| Reader interest | 0.79 | 0.70 | 0.92 | 0.80 | 0.22 | +0.26 | +0.209 |
| Audience breadth | 0.95 | 0.80 | 0.84 | 0.86 | 0.15 | +0.13 | +0.112 |
| Practical relevance | 0.69 | 0.55 | 0.78 | 0.67 | 0.23 | +0.22 | +0.148 |
| Substantiated | 0.69 | 0.72 | 0.72 | 0.71 | 0.03 | +0.05 | +0.035 |
| Technical depth | 0.58 | 0.35 | 0.58 | 0.50 | 0.23 | +0.05 | +0.025 |
| New information | 0.94 | 0.60 | 0.96 | 0.83 | 0.36 | +0.05 | +0.042 |
| Promotional | 0.06 | 0.20 | 0.12 | 0.13 | 0.14 | −0.19 | −0.024 |
| Overclaim | 0.32 | 0.35 | 0.22 | 0.30 | 0.13 | −0.11 | −0.033 |
| Sum of contributions | +0.669 | ||||||
| Claim-check penalty | 0.000 | ||||||
| Total, as published | 0.669 | ||||||
Spread is the highest minus the lowest judge answer. marks a spread above 0.40: the judges disagree, and the story is marked contested.
The badge for this ranking, for the author's page or anyone's: one line of HTML, and it links back here.
<a href="https://rubric.hrih.si/editions/2026-10-25/9/"><img src="https://rubric.hrih.si/badge/2026-10-25/9.svg" alt="Ranked #9 on Rubric, 25 Oct 2026" width="238" height="28"></a>Claim check
Claim check: 8 no source given. Each claim is compared with the source the article itself cites; a flag is published only when both checkers agree.
No source givenQuote
IBM's 1954 preliminary report on FORTRAN said the language should virtually eliminate coding and debugging.
The article gives no link or citation for it.
The article says “should virtually eliminate coding and debugging”
The source says No source to compare with.
No source givenNumber
In METR's randomized controlled trial, experienced open-source developers took 19% longer to complete issues when allowed to use AI tools.
The article gives no link or citation for it.
The article says “The clock said that with AI they took 19% longer”
The source says No source to compare with.
No source givenNumber
METR's trial involved sixteen experienced developers working on 246 real issues in their own repositories.
The article gives no link or citation for it.
The article says “Sixteen experienced open-source developers worked on 246 real issues in their own repositories”
The source says No source to compare with.
No source givenNumber
Stack Overflow's 2025 survey found 84% of developers were using AI tools or planning to, up from 70% in 2023.
The article gives no link or citation for it.
The article says “from 70% of developers using AI tools or planning to in 2023, to 84% in 2025”
The source says No source to compare with.
No source givenNumber
METR found the task length AI agents can complete half the time has doubled about every six months, and about every four months since 2023.
The article gives no link or citation for it.
No source givenNumber
Faros AI's 2025 telemetry from over 10,000 developers showed high-AI-adoption teams merged 98% more pull requests and review time rose 91%.
The article gives no link or citation for it.
The article says “finished 21% more tasks and merged 98% more pull requests, and their review time went up 91%”
The source says No source to compare with.
No source givenBenchmark result
Veracode found 45% of results from over 100 language models on 80 coding tasks had a security flaw.
The article gives no link or citation for it.
The article says “Veracode tested more than 100 language models on 80 coding tasks in 2025, and 45% of the results had a security flaw”
The source says No source to compare with.
No source givenNumber
Stanford researchers found employment for software developers aged 22 to 25 was down nearly 20% from its late-2022 peak, with older developers showing no noticeable change.
The article gives no link or citation for it.
The article says “Employment for software developers aged 22 to 25 was down nearly 20% from its peak in late 2022”
The source says No source to compare with.
Also covered by
No other coverage was clustered with this story.
Elsewhere
Elsewhere: HN 160 pts, front page
Recorded for context only, checked 25 Oct 2026, 05:46 UTC. It played no part in the ranking.