JetBrains working on higher-abstraction programming language

They need to call it COBOL. A language regular business people can use!

you write it in a special programming language, which is basically English, which describes how you want to see this application in a very specified way

A derivative of English, with different syntax and rules to help eliminate ambiguities? We in the industry tend to call that "code".

This is how cobol was created

So another 4th generation language that no one uses. Great.

That's a long list of words I have never heard of. I do like how SQL somehow fits the bill of a 4GL.
- It makes sense, you aren't telling sql server how to do something, you just tell it what you want and it figures it out. You aren't even doing procedural stuff at that point.
  I like the RAD tools being qualified as 4GLs as I haven't really thought of them that way but again it makes sense.
  Also screw PowerBuilder. I am sorry if anyone in this thread likes it...but it is seriously awful.
  Edit: Before people jump me, I do know that you have some influence over execution plans with join orders, hints, etc.. but by and large you don't tell SQL Server how to do it's job.

Another chatgpt wrapper sold as gold subscription.

That's my bet.

which is basically English, which describes how you want to see

It will be a mix between Basic and Cobol. I like what JetBrains do, but that's a stupid idea.

I'm guessing it'll be closer to bytecode, since they're very java focused.
- Nobody writes byte code directly.

Do they really need it when kotlin exists?

What they are aiming for (not agreeing, just explaining) is a language that you can use to ask AI to do things for you.
The idea is that you do not have to do the nuts and bolts programming (the AI will do that) but at the same time you have more deterministic control over what the AI does.
So “higher level” than our highest level languages now.

This kind of seems like a solution in search of a problem. Most modern high level programming languages are easily readable, 'english oriented', and already capable of at least some level of cross platform development.

One of the main problems with any programing language or framework is that flexibility breeds complexity. If they seriously think they're going to lower the complexity of programming by allowing devs to write programs [essentially] in plain English, and then let AI do the rest, I think it's a recipe for disappointment.

It's the "I'm scared of brackets" crowd again.
I don't have high hopes for it to be actually useful. They already have Kotlin, which feels like a playground for language designers.
- Yeah... Kotlin is an unreadable nightmare.
This kind of seems like a solution in search of a problem
Not like it's a bad things. A lot of inventions started this way.
- But also, a lot of programming languages exist simply because a programmer really wanted to write a programming language.

The language is in the works but JetBrains has not revealed a timeline for general availability at this point.

Won’t hold my breath for this ever shipping.

Assuming there will be an LLM involved because that’s what seems to be all AI is these days. How on earth they plan to get reproducible builds from this thing is beyond me (suppose that’s one reason I don’t work for JetBrains).

It sounds like it uses similar ideas to Amazon Kiro. Many of the advancements in “vibe coding” tools are focused on ways to put consistent, coherent bumpers on AI output.
Surely through an intermediate - real - language?

Does it involve AI?

Yep!
developing a new programming language intended to make AI and code much more controllable and transparent
Don't worry, no details on how a language would achieve that
- The idea is that the programming language is closer to natural language, which is what LLMs do best.
- Oh okay.

"JetBrains is exploring how to make this new language a derivative from Kotlin, but Skrygan believes the derivative should be English."

That sounds like (Visual) Basic. It looks like English but it's basically pseudo-code.

I'm happy letting AI and my language server write all the extra annotations for Rust, i've no trouble reading them. I have much more trouble when types and usage specifiers/limiters are missing.

This makes me think of Inform, which compiles English sentences into interactive fiction.

“So instead of writing three applications, you write it in a special programming language, which is basically English, which describes how you want to see this application in a very specified way, and then AI agents, together with JetBrains tooling, will generate the code of all of these platforms,” Skrygan said.