From Machine Code to Documentation

Publication date: 2025-07-04

Application development is changing. Once, machine code was the main value—the era of mainframes and punch cards. Then the value shifted to programs written in high-level languages that could generate machine code.

Today, as AI agents enter the development process, the value shifts further: the primary artifact becomes documentation and instructions on which programs are based. They determine what tasks the code solves and what capabilities users get.

We are entering an era where not the code itself, but the context and instructions for its generation define the success of development.