> There exists a higher level problem of holistic system behavior verification
This is the key observation. Strict, code-level verification of every line, while valuable in the small, doesn't contribute very meaningfully to understanding or building confidence in higher level system properties.
I see a future of modules with well defined interfaces and associated contracts. Module level contracts can be formally verified or confidently believed via property based testing. Higher level system behavior can then be proven or tested by assuming the module contracts are upheld.
Module boundaries allow for varying the desired level of confidence module by module (testing, property based testing with variable run time allotments, formal verification).
LLMs can handle each step of that chain today, allowing humans to invest specifically where we want more confidence.
I definitely agree that we'll always need people who think like programmers. We can develop tools in the vein of those you mention to significantly enhance the productivity of those people though. I haven't seen many tools like that that help in distributed systems or that allow one to easily visualize and understand an entire system.
> There exists a higher level problem of holistic system behavior verification
This is the key observation. Strict, code-level verification of every line, while valuable in the small, doesn't contribute very meaningfully to understanding or building confidence in higher level system properties.
I see a future of modules with well defined interfaces and associated contracts. Module level contracts can be formally verified or confidently believed via property based testing. Higher level system behavior can then be proven or tested by assuming the module contracts are upheld.
Module boundaries allow for varying the desired level of confidence module by module (testing, property based testing with variable run time allotments, formal verification).
LLMs can handle each step of that chain today, allowing humans to invest specifically where we want more confidence.