Yet, while coding as we know it is indeed facing disruption, the creative, problem-solving essence of computer programming is likely to remain a largely human endeavor for the foreseeable future.

Computer-programming employment in the U.S. has reached its lowest level since 1980, according to data from the Current Population Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

BASIC's creators used a similar computer four years later to develop the programming language. Credit: GE / Wikipedia A brochure for the GE 210 computer from 1964.

More than a quarter of all computer programming jobs have vanished in the past two years, the worst downturn that industry has ever seen. Things are sufficiently abysmal that computer programming ...