November 2025
Beginner
404 pages
10h 38m
English
Content preview from Fundamentals of Software Engineering
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Chapter 15. The AI-Powered Software Engineer
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
Charles Darwin
In 1801, Joseph Marie Jacquard invented a loom controlled by punch cards that could weave intricate patterns automatically. Professional weavers watched with alarm as this new machine replicated work that once required years of practice. Many predicted that this would be the end of their craft as they knew it.
Yet something unexpected happened. Rather than eliminating weavers, the Jacquard loom transformed them. Skilled artisans became pattern designers, machine operators, and textile engineers. The most successful weavers were those who understood both the traditional craft and the new technology. Production soared, creating entirely new roles that hadn’t existed before.
Fast-forward two hundred years, and we find ourselves in a similar situation. AI is writing code, fixing bugs, and designing entire systems. Developers are having those same “Am I about to be replaced?” thoughts that weavers had back then. But here’s the thing: history tells us it doesn’t usually work out that way. This pattern has repeated itself with every major technological breakthrough, and each time, the people who adapted came out ahead.
The Jacquard loom didn’t put skilled weavers out of work. Instead, it gave them a superpower: the ability to produce far more in the same amount of time. A weaver who once took days to create ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.