Musing 47

While it’s been a while since I’ve written a musing on software, it is a big part of my life, as I’m a software engineer in my day job.

And while I’m still struggling with anxiety over the rise of AI agents, it’s also been fun to see people run face-first into the limits of what agents can do, and what happens when ambiguities in language cause problems for those agents.

But this also points to one of the hardest parts of software engineering - actually making a quality product.

And sadly, code quality by itself is often not the most important factor (though it is important to ensure people or AI agents can work with it!). Instead, the 2 most important aspects of good software are accessibility and performance.

Accessibility in this context specifically refers to users with some type of impairment being able to use the software (ie are they color-blind, actually blind, etc). When you have to deal with Section 508 (for gov’t applications), you’re forced into using good color schemes, forced to have a UI that doesn’t blind you, and where the text is readable. If the user can’t work with your UI, that is a lost user.

On the other side of that, performance matters because unless people think the wait is worth it (and all studies on the matter say “People be impatient! Go FAST!”), they will not use your app if it’s not performant and they have any other choice.

As AI written software becomes more prominent, I fear that these 2 things will be left behind more than they already are. We already see the impact of forgetting about performance in gaming, and given the ever more energy needed to run computers, every ounce of efficiency will be needed.