By Kent Yang | Staff Writer
Kicking off this year is the biggest tech event of the year, CES 2024, also known as the Consumer Electronics Show. CES is an annual trade show typically held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, featuring the latest advancements in consumer technology. It all began in 1967 in New York City when organizers held the first CES. Among the 200 exhibitors were notable attractions such as pocket radios and TVs with integrated circuits, which were groundbreaking at the time and contributed to drawing in over 17,000 attendees. Since then, the CES has continued to serve as a global stage for innovation.
Fast forward to modern times, there are now over 4,000 exhibitors and 130,000 attendees who attend CES yearly. Some recognizable exhibitors are Amazon, AMD, Caterpillar, Google, Hyundai, IBM, Intel, John Deere, Lenovo, LG, Mercedes-Benz, Panasonic, Reddit, Roku, Samsung, Sony, and the list goes on. Since there are over 4,000 exhibitors, covering each and every one is not feasible, but the most significant innovation for this year can be highlighted.
With that said, the topic is coding. Traditionally, coding involves writing lines of code where the programmer must understand complex problem-solving, algorithms, data analysis, data structure, and more. By taking what needs to be done and translating it into computer languages such as Java, Python, HTML, C++, logic can then be implemented into applications and programs. Amid the recent surge of AI usage in the tech industry within the last several years, a Low-Code Movement has also emerged, which uses AI assistance for coding tasks and workloads. In a partnership by Amazon Web Services and Mendix, the future of coding could mean no coding at all.
Matt Wood, the VP of Technology Amazon Web Services, spoke at a keynote during CES 2024, stating: “The programming language of the next decade is not going to be the traditional way that we’ve been writing code. It’s just going to be a natural language. You’re just going to describe what it is that you want the system to do, and it will interpret it automatically. And that’s an incredibly democratizing and incredibly exciting opportunity to reinvent every product and process.”
To Wood’s point, Professor Jeffery Thompson, Associate Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Mount Wachusett Community College agrees. “There will be a change in the job market and what skills that one needs to bring, but programming will not die, it will become different,” they said. “The current stage of AI, has neural networks, where a computer is given data and suggests a pattern in it. Somewhere, that pattern has to be validated as being good or bad, usually by human interaction. Coding is changing, and it will not look the same a decade out from now, but people will need to code the AI, train the AI, quality test the AI, fix the AI code. There will be a place for people in this…as of now.”
The future of coding could be as straightforward as issuing instructions to the system, which then generates the corresponding code. This process is like using a translation app like Google Translate to converse in another language. However, it’s crucial to keep in mind that AI is only as good as the information it is being fed. Like human nature, mistakes may occur but can be rectified over time. When and if this system rolls out, even the everyday average Joe or Amy will be able to “code.” This will be a major game changer. As humans, we’re built to question things, explore, and imagine. If anyone can code, the possibilities could be limitless. Addressing the challenges of our modern world demands tapping into our innate abilities as critical thinkers, innovators, and engineers.
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