Thread

1. tolugenius · 1790091450 · focus · HN ↗

   > About 20 Markdown files described browser use, connectors, payments, credentials, data handling, generated files, voice, goals, and scheduling.

   This the state of software engineering in 2026.

   Edit: clarified engineering to software engineering, which is more correct

   1. s08148692 · 1790092923 · focus · HN ↗

      To be fair there's probably a considerable amount of engineering that went into evaluating those markdown files so the agent behaviour is statistically reliable. The markdown is the product, not the process

      1. toomuchtodo · 1790093712 · focus · HN ↗

         Markdown can never guarantee deterministic agent operations. It is an influence on inference, not a deterministic code path. How "statistically reliable" is it?

         1. fweimer · 1790097465 · focus · HN ↗

            I'm pretty sure people said this about the early COBOL compilers, too. They were buggy, the API had terrible uptime, and was slow to respond.

            Overall, this whole approach to programming seems to align really well with the original premise of COBOL. I wonder when people will start putting

            # Identification Division

            into their Markdown files.

            1. fg137 · 1790099805 · focus · HN ↗

               I'm pretty sure COBOL compiler bugs were deterministic.

               1. fweimer · 1790101517 · focus · HN ↗

                  When emulated on today's hardware. But the hardware actually available at the time was pretty unreliable by modern standards, I think.

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