https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/small-matter-programming

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_matter_of_programming

I've long been a fan of end-user programming, and have promoted it in the form of domain-specific languages and visual building of logic. I love that it gives "non-programmer" users the power to (try to) build what they imagine, and have seen it lead to valuable prototypes and successful tools/products/services.

On the other hand, I've come to learn that this is still a form of programming, however higher a layer of abstraction.

Users who attempt a complex problem space will sooner or later run into what experienced programmers deal with every day, the challenge of organizing thought and software.

What typically happens is, as the "non-program" grows larger and more complex, eventually it starts pushing the limits of the abstraction, either of the user's capacity or the system's. That's when they call in a "real" programmer, to get in there and patch up the leaky abstraction, or convert the prototype into actual software in a better-suited language.

I still think low- or no-code programming environments have a lot of potential to change what software means to people, particularly by blurring the boundary between software development as we know it, and forms of "intuitive computing" like putting together mental Lego blocks.

It doesn't seem like any of that has diminished the demand for software professionals.