I would argue that it's also theoretically misguided. After all, it's not like programmers in the past didn't use libraries and pre-built components.

If anything, I'd argue the LOC it takes to accomplish many tasks is actually increasing because applications are held to higher standards of quality, scalability, availability, scope, etc.

You're ignoring the operative word, which is need. You can't say much about that point without actually doing some analysis. For instance, how much of that code is wiring? How much of that code is rewriting existing solutions for educational purposes? And so on.

Easy enough to figure out. Count dependencies in given selection of software, compare to older software in the same area.

I'm certain someone did such surveys.

Software isn't entirely driven by need, sometimes politics or licensing preclude the use of libraries. Sometimes libraries are not specific for your area and cannot be used - typical when handling hard real time applications or when otherwise microseconds matter.

>I'm certain someone did such surveys.

Sure, it's easy enough. But until you can actually point to the surveys, we can't say anything about the code on Github relating to the point being made.

I'm sure a lot of code gets added to GitHub every day, but the amount that's necessary (not a reimplementation of something that already exists) and not just glue code wiring other components together is probably pretty small.

How much of that (Github) code is based on du jour languages and only a casual attempt (if any) to reuse or adapt an existing codebase? I'd say at least 40% but I may be pessimistic.

> "Programmers do not need to write much code anymore; all they need to do in most cases is wire together already available components."

there are a lot of programmers which develop purely in visual environments such as LabVIEW, Max/MSP, PureData, vvvv, and others - you just don't hear them complaining on hn :p

Personal attacks aren't ok regardless of how wrong someone is, so please don't post them to HN.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Yikes, harsh. I mostly agree though. I thought this article was silly and couldn't even finish it. I'm not really sure what his point was. Since the conception of software engineering as a discipline, maintainability and code reuse has been highly desirable. It's just taken a while for it to sink in for some people. Re-using code simply means you write different code instead of wasting your time; but you're still writing code.

He is pointing to a phenomenon I have witnessed which is copy-pasta and a mediocre understanding of the domain is enough to pass as a programmer these days.