Computer programming
The process of writing instructions for a computer to execute. Spans from assembly to natural language via LLM 2024+. The profession has existed since Ada Lovelace 1843.
Classic pipeline: design → code → compile/interpret → test → debug → deploy. Paradigms: imperative (C), OOP (Java), functional (Haskell), logical (Prolog), declarative (SQL). Major shifts: assembly → high-level (1950s), structured (1968), OOP (1980s), web (1995+), agile (2001), DevOps (2009+), AI pair programming (2021+). "10x developer" myth refuted by Frederick Brooks's Mythical Man-Month. Modern reality: large parts of coding are communication, reading, debugging — not writing.