Post #1490531
2025-11-15 11:14 UTC
I think the enthusiam for natural language programming - especially with the advent of LLMs - conflates two different things, one of which is rooted in a misconception
1) natural language is better for describing high-level ideas like "I want an app for tracking my spending"
2) natural language makes it easier for non-technical users to describe program requirements
Replies (1)
-
@nicklockwood@mastodon.social 2025-11-15 11:14
The former is true, because no existing DSL has the scope to describe software at such a high level English can describe systems that span multiple programming languages and platforms, but DSLs are, by their nature, *domain-specific* LLMs are general-purpose. If I want an instruction interface for an LLM then clearly no existing DSL is going to cut it (meta-languages like JSON, XML or Markdown don't count - these only formalize the structure, they don't specify how to interpret the content)