It’s not the main point of this Cal Newport essay, but I enjoyed this bit of history. On early computers shipping with support for the BASIC programming language, and how it relates to vibe coding:
This idea of bespoke computer programs made sense. Altair and Apple couldn’t anticipate every potential use for their machines, so why not let individuals decide whether they wanted to, say, analyze business data, store recipes, or simulate space battles? In practice, however, even an “easy” programming language like BASIC proved hard for most normal people to master. A minor mistake could crash an entire program.
In the end, personal computing followed a different path. In 1979, a newly formed company called Software Arts developed VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet program, which cost a hundred dollars and arrived on a floppy disk. The program was a profound improvement on paper ledgers, and it became the first “killer app,” selling more than seven hundred thousand copies in less than six years. VisiCalc was more powerful than anything an average user could program in BASIC, and it prompted a pivot away from D.I.Y. coding in favor of professional programs.
A vast and lucrative software industry emerged, and the idea of the average person dreaming up their own custom programs was all but forgotten—that is, until generative A.I. came along.
I can’t help but think of Lord of the Rings when I read that. “And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for [50] years, [building personal bespoke software] passed out of all knowledge.”