Is It Coding?

Is it coding?

Someone told me recently that if you’re using LLMs to write code, it’s not really coding. Coding has always been about intent, structure, logic, and iteration. The keyboard was just the interface.

Writing every line manually is like laying every brick yourself. Is an architect not building because they don’t lay every brick? Using LLMs is closer to designing the building and directing how it gets constructed. You still need judgment, taste, systems thinking, and the ability to debug and refine until the software does what you meant it to do. The responsibility is still yours. In many ways, more of the real work is exposed now, not less.