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> Suppose you need to add new features or fix a bug, to do so you will need all of the original specifications and code generation tools. Yes, that is the poin

> Suppose you need to add new features or fix a bug, to do so you will need all of the original specifications and code generation tools. Yes, that is the point of code generation. You had a positive sentiment towards Rust - Rust has a compiler. In order to work with Rust, you have to have "all of the original specifications and code generation tools." Source code is just the specification of the program, and the compiler is the code generation tool. Why do you trust compilers any more than this?

thesuperbigfrog 5y ago
>> Source code is just the specification of the program, and the compiler is the code generation tool. Compilers generate machine code. When I said "all of the original specifications and code generation tools", I was referring to tools that generate SOURCE code using models or specification languages such as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Model_and_Notation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Model_and_Not... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Modeling_Language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Modeling_Language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Modeling_Language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Modeling_Language These tools use models or specifications as input and generate source code output. Frequently these are expensive, proprietary tools that are intended to let semi-technical domain experts build solutions without needing to know how to program computers. They are the previous iteration of "no code" / "low code" tools. What happens if the model tool company goes out of business? What happens if the model tool company gets acquired and the new owner decides to raise the prices too much and some of their customers cannot afford to pay? What happens to all of the generated source code produced by these tools when the business using the generated source code needs changes made, but no longer has the models or tools?

thesuperbigfrog 5y ago

>> Source code is just the specification of the program, and the compiler is the code generation tool. Compilers generate machine code. When I said "all of the original specifications and code generation tools", I was referring to tools that generate SOURCE code using models or specification languages such as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Model_and_Notation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Model_and_Not... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Modeling_Language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Modeling_Language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Modeling_Language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Modeling_Language These tools use models or specifications as input and generate source code output. Frequently these are expensive, proprietary tools that are intended to let semi-technical domain experts build solutions without needing to know how to program computers. They are the previous iteration of "no code" / "low code" tools. What happens if the model tool company goes out of business? What happens if the model tool company gets acquired and the new owner decides to raise the prices too much and some of their customers cannot afford to pay? What happens to all of the generated source code produced by these tools when the business using the generated source code needs changes made, but no longer has the models or tools?