Why write code in 2026

Doug Turnbull’s case against handing all the typing to agents is not that they write bad code. It is that writing code is how he finds out what he actually thinks:

Writing code helps me think. English is an under-specified language.

The other reason is that touching the code is how you notice it is rotting. He calls this experiencing fragility: if it is hard for him to build on something without breaking it, an agent will have a worse time still. Prompting from a distance hides that signal.

His framing for agents is not compilers but freshly onboarded interns, capable but happy to amplify your mistakes when the guidance is thin. Which leads to the line worth keeping: humans can’t surrender their thinking and taste to armies of interns. No numbers here, just an argument about where judgement comes from.