/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.5727811]

is software developer going to become an obsolete profession any time soon?

at first thought you might think not. but think about it seriously a little longer.

for example if quantum computers become a reality will that change the nature of computer programming. is there any way the nature of computer programming can change? i mean can it move away from the logic and sytax it uses now to something completely different?

then there is skill? could we reach a point where only the very best programmers will be employable because we reached such a level of complexity in the software systems that you have to be in the top 10% of programmers to be able to do something with it. the programmers who are making websites to present a company today will simply not understand that level of complexity. possible?

[Anonymous No.5727816]

>>5727811
the vast majority of jobs are and will be for code monkeys. just like manual labor, shit work needs to be done.

[Anonymous No.5727847]

It depends on how these "quantum computers" work.
If they are software compliant, we will need quantum programmers.
If they are hard-code only. We will need quantum designers... essentially arranging each piece (syntax) to make a specific type of logic apparatus. It would probably be done on a machine, which would construct (compile) the quantum bits into a working quantum program. Which would be an amalgamation of logic apparatuses.

Which may or may not happen eventually within our lifetime as shit will be too expensive to be feasible for quite some time.

[Anonymous No.5727851]

>>5727847

are you some sort of retarded subspecies

[Anonymous No.5727862]

>>5727851
I dunno lol

How can you move away form logic, and still have a functioning COMPUTER.

Unless that's not what you are calling me out on, than you should have been more clear.

[Anonymous No.5727864]

did you guys see that video of the "movie" IBM made, stop motion atom arrangements? how far off can we possibly be from quantum computers?

[Anonymous No.5727865]

>>5727847
>Which may or may not happen eventually within our lifetime

It's already happening.
http://phys.org/news/2013-04-success-nuclear-quantum-closer.html

[Anonymous No.5727869]

>>5727865

[chemfag !Hzum9Tvcag No.5727891]

>>5727869

[Anonymous No.5727903]

quantum computers will still ultimately have to be programmed with higher order languages, and humans will still need software designed to specific needs, so i don't really understand what you mean.
just because the hardware fundamentally improves doesn't mean the user interface has to as well.

why would we want to fundamentally change the way we program from something simple to something complex just because the hardware increased in complexity?

The point of quantum computing isn't to change the end user experience by making it fundamentally different than what it is right now; just faster and more secure. This will be true for programmers as well.

[Anonymous No.5727909]

>>5727847
Quantum computers actually exist, you know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Wave_Systems

Programming on a quantum computer will probably be similar to programming as it is now, one of the first things that will be done once these things go mainstream is that easy-to-learn kits will be released for software developers.

Besides, who says quantum computers can't just run Windows 8?

[Anonymous No.5727915]

Yep, computers will systematically do all the work including engineering and science, thousand years after you will be dead.

[Anonymous No.5727916]

>>5727909
Just to clarify on this dude's post, those computers are not running a general architecture. They are designed to solve traveling salesman problems.

[Anonymous No.5727918]

>>5727909
neat

>who says quantum computers can't just run Windows 8
oh god why?

[Anonymous No.5727919]

Quantum computers will also need programmers.
However they are unlikely to be of much use for general purpose computing compared to binary architectures so I don't see software engineering becoming obsolete anytime soon.

[Anonymous No.5727958]

Software developer will be the absolute last profession to become obsolete.

[Anonymous No.5727988]

>>5727958
>yfw hookers are phased out long before programmers

[Anonymous No.5727999]

>could we reach a point where only the very best programmers will be employable

i kinda see the opposite coming. companies putting lid on what you can or can't do with your own computer (windows 8, android), licenses on making software (sony), expensive proprietary solutions, accessible only through megacorp in-house training, making you dependent on some big money backing. programmers getting their disruptive teeth kicked out, and put in a position of a mindless drone, following a diagram.

happened to cad machine programmers and repair shops, off the top of my head.

[Anonymous No.5728004]

>>5727999
At that point, free software will be more important then ever before.

[Anonymous No.5728009]

>>5728004
that's... hot.

[Anonymous No.5728018]

A lot of the repetitive drudgery is being done away with. Some of the interface friction is being removed. That doesn't mean that programmers will be useless, just that it will be much easier for them to live up to their potential without being as constrained by hardware or software. You still need knowledge of the hardware and logic levels.

I think this is similar to what happened to mathematics after the invention of calculus, mathematics moved from having an emphasis on computation (arithmetic) to having a more abstract focus.

http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2013/03/19a.aspx
Probabilistic programming is a new programming paradigm for managing uncertain information. By incorporating it into machine learning, PPAML seeks to greatly increase the number of people who can successfully build machine learning applications and make machine learning experts radically more effective. Moreover, the program seeks to create more economical, robust and powerful applications that need less data to produce more accurate results – features inconceivable with today’s technology.

[Anonymous No.5728055]

>>5727999
>companies putting lid on what you can or can't do with your own computer (windows 8, android)
Uh... windows 8 and android don't require you to do anything to make a program or install any software you get. You have to jump through their hoops to get stuff put into the official platform store, but you can install stuff without using the store, and you can even make your own store.

Apple has this kind of bullshit where you need a developer license to run anything on your iPad that you didn't get from the store, but they're losing out to Android for a reason.

People only allow this nonsense in niches.

[Anonymous No.5728072]

we will never have 100% quantum computers. Thats not the idea.

Quantum computers have a lot of problems. They will only be used connected to classical computers (almost like a co-processor) to achieve an exponential speed up on some particular problems.

[Anonymous No.5728115]

>>5727811
Computer programming is (and always will be) moving away from complexity as higher level programming languages are developed. There, of course, will need to be someone to write low level code for things like kernels and drivers, but software development is only going to become easier and easier. I don't know enough about low level programming to tell if it will become easier or more complex as time goes on.

[Anonymous No.5728118]

>>5728072
You can't make that statement.
Unless you are one of the scientists that believes that there is no such thing as a classical system. It hasn't been proven yet, but some believe that all things can be explained with a unified quantum theory.

[Anonymous No.5728119]

>>5727909
>Besides, who says quantum computers can't just run Windows 8?
I'm sure that if the NT kernel was rewritten for whichever architecture quantum computers (will) use, they could 'just run Windows 8', but right now that's impossible.

[Anonymous No.5728131]

>>5728115
I meant that software development will be moving away from complexity. Actual programming gets more and more complex as mathematics evolve. Things like black box abstraction only serve to make writing complex programs easier.

[Anonymous No.5728136]

>>5727851
Fuckin lol'd

[Anonymous No.5728169]

>>5727909
>Besides, who says quantum computers can't just run Windows 8?
please stop posting

[Anonymous No.5728248]

>>5728119
Only if quantum computers use binary abstraction.

[Anonymous No.5728258]

>is software developer going to become an obsolete profession any time soon?
No.
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[Anonymous No.5728267]

Parallel processing is a much more realistic issue.
It requests a lot of new, very different programming methods.
We've had it for ages and yet it hasn't taken over yet.
Same will happen to quantum computing.
Just because some scientist says it's the next big thing doesn't mean people will adopt it