Artificial Intelligence|Published: Sep 30, 2026
Who needs documentation anyway in the era of AI?
When software engineering emerged in the mid-20th century, shaped by pioneers such as Alan Turing, John von Neumann, Grace Hopper, Edsger Dijkstra, and later Fred Brooks, software was largely about logic, mathematics, and precise instructions for a machine. Programs were smaller, the gap between the implementation and the knowledge required to understand was relatively short, and much of the truth about a system could be found directly in its source code. The code was the documentation.
