Disposable Code Is Here to Stay, but Durable Code Is What Runs the World
August 6, 2025
The software domain is splitting in two
Software development is in the process of bifurcating into two very different domains: disposable code and durable code.At the moment, engineers are bringing largely the same skill sets and tools to both domains, but this won’t last. The skill sets, tool chains, and definitions of success have already begun to diverge, and they are likely to split into different disciplines entirely.
Some people seem to be carrying around a lot of anxiety about whether the days of durable code are numbered, but I think this is nuts. Both types of software are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future.
Source: Disposable Code Is Here to Stay, but Durable Code Is What Runs the World
Right now there’s a lot of handwringing about vibe coding and its impact on software engineering.
The reality is that perhaps the significant majority of software has long been written by non professionals–it’s spreadsheets, Visual Basic, MS Access, FileMaker. Lo and no-coding were the rage just a couple of years back.
Vibe coding is replacing this sort of software.
Charity Majors are explores something a little different here–two kinds of professionally developed software-‘disposable’ and ‘durable’. And how the world of software may be bifurcating between these two.
