Trace the journey from punch cards to AI assistants and understand why this history matters for modern development
Welcome to your journey through the evolution of programming tools! Understanding where we've been helps us appreciate where we're going—and why Claude Code's approach is so revolutionary.
By the end of this module, you'll be able to:
Programming wasn't always about typing on keyboards. In fact, it started as an entirely physical activity.
The earliest "programming" involved physically rewiring machines. The ENIAC (1945) required operators to manually connect cables and set switches—a single "program" change could take days.
Boris from Anthropic shares a touching story: his grandfather was one of the first programmers in the Soviet Union. His mother would draw with crayons on the punch cards he brought home from work. Programming was literally something you could hold in your hands.
Punch cards represented the first abstraction—instead of rewiring, you could feed cards into a machine. The IBM 029 keypunch machine became the "MacBook of its time" for programmers.
Ken Thompson at Bell Labs created ed, the first software text editor. You can still run it today:
No cursor. No scrollback. No syntax highlighting. Just pure text manipulation.
Smalltalk-80 had live reload in 1980! While we struggle with hot module replacement in modern React apps, Smalltalk developers were changing code and seeing instant results 44 years ago.
By the 1990s, programming languages began to converge:
As Boris notes: "If you squint, all the languages sort of look the same."
The fundamental shift: we're moving from writing how (syntax) to expressing what (intent).
"The model is moving really fast. It's on an exponential, it's getting better at coding very, very quickly... and the product is kind of struggling to keep up." - Boris, Anthropic
This creates a fundamental challenge:
Understanding this evolution helps us see that:
Claude Code represents a philosophical choice:
1. What was the first software text editor, and what key limitation did it have?
Correct Answer: B
Ed, created by Ken Thompson in 1969, was the first text editor. It was designed for teletype machines that printed on paper, so concepts like cursors and scrollback didn't exist.
2. According to Boris, what is the fundamental challenge with AI model development?
Correct Answer: B
The key insight is that AI models improve exponentially (doubling in capability regularly) while products built around them improve linearly (feature by feature), creating an ever-widening gap.
3. What programming innovation did Smalltalk-80 introduce in 1980 that we still struggle with today?
Correct Answer: C
Smalltalk-80 had working live reload in 1980, allowing developers to change code and see results instantly. Modern developers still struggle to implement reliable hot module replacement.
Let's experience this evolution hands-on:
Bonus Challenge: Ask Claude to simulate programming in different eras:
claude "show me how to write hello world as if I were using punch cards in 1960"
claude "now show me the same program in Smalltalk-80 style"
claude "finally, show me how you'd write it today"
In the next module, we'll dive deep into Claude Code's philosophy. Why does it stay unopinionated? How does this benefit you as a developer? And most importantly, how can you leverage this approach to stay ahead of the exponential curve?
Coming Up: Understanding why Claude Code provides "just enough" UI and how this positions you to leverage increasingly powerful AI models as they emerge.