Friday Links: Programming is dead, naming tools, and better than cheap
26 Dec 2025 #mondaylinksHey, there.
Here are 4 links I thought were worth sharing this week:
#1. “AI replacing coders” and “programming being dead” have been all over the news. But that’s not true. AI can “write” code, but it can’t do our job (5min). Coding has never been the bottleneck or the most valuable skill.
#2. Naming is hard. Especially when we’re naming packages or tools. We’ve gone from descriptive to funny, unrelated names (Viper, Cobra, Melody). We’ve lost the plot of naming tools (9min).
#3. If we want to stand out among the crowd, we have to be better than the cheap alternative (1min): frozen pizza, smartphone camera, or AI.
#4. Looking for an interesting read this holiday season? Well, check out Read Something Wonderful. Just a few clicks took me to the 1,000 true fans essays, one of the most popular ones on the Internet.
And in case you missed it, I wrote on my blog about What coders could offer instead of LOCs if AI takes over (2min) and vibecoding ruining CS degrees (3min).
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… my new book, Street-Smart Coding: 30 lessons to help you code like a pro. From Googling to clear communication, it covers the lessons you don’t learn in tutorials. It’s now out on Kindle and paperback on Amazon.
See you next time,
Cesar