The Last Generation of Programmers

In February 1946, six young women stood behind ENIAC while reporters celebrated the most powerful machine ever built. They had programmed it by hand, yet nobody introduced them. Eighty years later, AI is writing a growing share of new code, and some technology leaders predict that human programmers may soon become unnecessary. But the history of programming is stranger than a simple story of replacement. FORTRAN, COBOL, visual programming tools, website builders, and no-code platforms were all expected to end programming. Instead, each made software cheaper and caused programming to spread. This time may be different. Large language models are learning human language itself, while AI agents can plan, write, test, and revise entire software projects. This video explores whether we are really watching the last generation of programmers, what happened to the human “computers” at NASA, and what may come next: programming as a universal skill, a smaller high-responsibility profession, or something we cannot yet imagine. It also examines the risks of AI-written software, the decline of human knowledge-sharing, and why understanding code may still matter even when machines write it. Do you think you are part of the last generation of programmers—or the first generation of something new? Share your thoughts in the comments. Chapters: 00:00 ENIAC and the First Programmers 01:18 What Is Programming, Really? 02:05 The Job That Refused to Die 03:31 Jevons Paradox: Why Cheaper Coding Creates More Software 04:13 When AI Learned Our Language 05:18 AI Agents and the New Programming Economy 06:36 The Numbers, the Hype, and the Caveats 07:19 When Computers Were People 09:01 What Comes After the Programmer? 10:32 The Hidden Risks of AI-Written Code 12:35 Are We the Last Generation of Programmers? 13:25 Why Learning to Program Still Matters 13:39 Remembering the First Programmers 14:08 Your First Program and the Future of Coding