I think the author mistook the phrase a bit.. and there's nothing to be insulted about either.. "Coding was never the hard part" does not say coding is easy.. b

I think the author mistook the phrase a bit.. and there's nothing to be insulted about either.. "Coding was never the hard part" does not say coding is easy.. but that, in the context where this phrase is used, there are other things that are harder than coding. So, if you have some parts, and must pick THE hard part, then coding is not it. And honestly, I agree. There are more people who can write code, than who cannot. But among those who can write code, there are fewer that can build large, consistent, well-performing systems, or modify them while keeping them elegant. There are even fewer that can architect them or comprehend the nuances of that architecture. So, yes. It may be difficult to write code, but that difficult task often exists in a wider context, where even identifying what to write, and where, is orders of magnitude harder, and, it often requires you to not just be able to write code, but to read code very well, indeed well enough to build an internal model of the system which aligns enough with reality that you can decide where, what and HOW to write the code that must be written. And even harder to find the piece of code to delete instead of writing it, to fix the bug or achieve the desired result.