The Stack Overflow Podcast From punch cards to prompts: a history of how software got better
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Aug 27, 2025 Darko Mesaroš, Principal Developer Advocate at AWS and a computer history enthusiast, dives into the rich evolution of software development. He highlights the journey from punch cards to modern programming languages like Python and Ruby, emphasizing their transformative effects. The conversation touches on the rise of AI in coding, the importance of understanding prompts, and the collaboration among developers across generations. Darko invites listeners to reflect on their coding experiences and the continuous evolution of technology.
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Hobby Computer Sparked A Career
- Darko received a Commodore 64C in 1991 and taught himself to code games because few games were available.
- That early tinkering launched a career from hobbyist to systems admin and developer advocate.
Punch Cards Introduced Batch Productivity
- Punch cards moved programming from flipping switches to a reproducible batch workflow that ran overnight.
- Developers debugged by reading paper Fortran listings and waited for morning results, a huge productivity change for math-heavy tasks.
Assembly Gave Direct Hardware Control
- Assembly provided direct CPU instruction control with mnemonic operations like MOV and ADD.
- It was one level above machine code and remained essential for performance-sensitive work like classic game development.